Subra: Raising standards will help private hospitals boost benefits

The Star

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Private hospitals should get their hospitals accredited by international bodies as this will benefit them and their patients, according to Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam.

He said accreditation would subject hospitals to scrutiny and this would give people the confidence of being given the best healthcare in a safe environment.

“We hope more hospitals will take up the challenge,” he said at a press conference after an accreditation award ceremony of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) here yesterday.

Currently, besides the ACHS, the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH) and the American-based Joint Commission Internation­al (JCI) provide accreditation of hospitals in Malaysia.

Asked whether private hospitals were ready to be teaching hospitals, Dr Subramaniam said he hoped this could be done in future.

He added that 77% of patients in private hospitals paid out of their pocket and it would depend on whether they (the hospitals) could be used as teaching models.

Currently, medical training was only allowed in public training hospitals and the ministry accepted 2,500 graduates each year, he said.

At any one time, he said, there would be 7,500 medical graduates and the high number affected the quality of training.

In Sungai Buloh Hospital, for instance, one ward had students from three universities, he added.

On concerns over the rise in the number of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection cases, he said the Saudi Arabia government had advised people to postpone trips there.

Millions of Muslims are expected to visit Saudi Arabia during Rama­dan in July and the haj season in October.