Speaking to FMT, Dr H Krishna Kumar said the proposal would not solve the root cause of government specialists leaving the public health sector, which was unattractive salaries.
“In the private sector, the salaries are very lucrative.
“So, if you stopped building private hospitals in Malaysia when there is a demand for them, then qualified specialists would just go overseas in search of better pay,” said Krishna, who is the chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Representative Committee.
“In Malaysia, returning specialists don’t go to the public health sector. Why? It’s because the pay is better in the private sector.”
Krishna said private hospitals complemented the public health sector. If there were an insufficient number of private hospital beds for those who could afford private healthcare, they would be forced to turn to public healthcare.
“Then, you will have even more people seeking treatment in public hospitals, which are already overloaded.”
He also pointed out that as it is, even with the combined number of hospital beds in public and private hospitals, Malaysia was still lagging behind developed countries in terms of available hospital beds.
Krishna said the way forward was for the government to either increase salaries of government specialists or provide more incentives to retain them.
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr John Chew said PSM’s proposal was not the right way to solve the lack of supply of specialists.
“Generally speaking, people opt for the healthcare systems they can afford. So, the private health sector actually complements the public health sector.”
He added it would be unfair to freeze approvals for private medical centres as these were not funded by the government but rather private investors.
Chew added that to resolve the issue of a lack of specialists, the government must train more specialists and offer more incentives for them to stay in the public health sector.
PSM treasurer Soh Sook Hwa had claimed that more specialist doctors were leaving the public sector, causing a shortage of manpower in hospitals.
She said according to a report in Parliament, only 30% of specialist doctors in government hopsitals had more than five years’ experience.
She added the development of private hospitals and health tourism was prompting more doctors to leave the public sector and suggested a freeze on new private hospitals and their expansion.