KUALA LUMPUR – For Covid-19 patients to be referred to private hospitals, they have to meet certain criteria, such as ambassadors and expatriates who request to be treated at private facilities.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told the New Straits Times that the ministry is informed of the capacity and capability of private healthcare facilities in terms of managing Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients.
He was quoted as saying that government hospitals would only refer Covid-19 patients who meet a specific criteria – such as ambassadors, expatriates and others who requested to be admitted to private facilities.
Dr Noor Hisham said this had been discussed during a virtual engagement held today between the ministry and the private healthcare sector to discuss public-private partnerships in managing Covid-19 patients.
In his Facebook post today, he said there were 596 attendees representing medical associations, such as Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM), Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM), Islamic Medical Association Malaysia (Imam) and the Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia (MPCAM), group and stand-alone private hospitals, Bank Negara, Health Ministry senior officials, state health directors, national CPRC and hospital services CPRC.
“During the engagement, we presented updates on MySejahtera’s features such as self-reporting for Covid-19 cases and home patient management, Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC); and Unified Command Centre (UCC).”
He explained that CAC is a centre established in each district health office (PKD) to assess patients’ severity and identify suitability for home monitoring, whilst UCC is a functional organisation which oversees and coordinates all the efforts related to the clinical management of Covid-19 patients within a particular area and will integrate the private healthcare facilities.
“The participation of each healthcare stakeholder is vital to ensure that our efforts are translated into success. As stressed before, we must work together as one – the public and private partnership must be further enhanced, and we must continue to find ways to collaborate further.
“Regardless of whether we are from the public or private sector; our contribution is equally important. We must work as a team. We are all soldiers in this long and tough battle and the nation is depending on us to help overcome this pandemic.”
At the same time, NST reported him as saying that non-Covid-19 patients will be referred to private hospitals to allow government hospitals to treat severe Covid-19 cases.
“We will refer non-Covid cases to private hospitals. They (private sector) can continue to manage their private patients diagnosed with Covid-19,” he added. – The Vibes, January 23, 2021
