We Don T Overcharge Says Private Hospital Group

---

 
The perception that private hospitals are profiteering comes from a failure to appreciate the costs, says the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia. (Reuters pic)PETALING JAYA: The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia has denied that its members overprice the treatment they offer or overcharge their patients.
The association’s president, Dr Kuljit Singh, said the perception that private hospitals were profiteering, held by both government officials and the general public, came from a failure to appreciate the costs.
He said public hospitals incurred the same costs “if not more” but these costs were not known to the public, whereas private hospitals would itemise their bills, “which we show our patients”.
A cost-benefit analysis (CBA), he said, would show that charges at private hospitals were not expensive.
He said “the very high increase” in medical tourists to the country was proof that the private healthcare sector offered value-for-money services.
Kuljit also said a better understanding of how the private sector charge fees would help the government in its drafting of policies that could have repercussions on public-private partnerships.
“Currently policies are based on the grouses of the rakyat,” he said. “While we do not begrudge the government for listening to the people, it could also kill off the private healthcare sector.”
He said an improved public-private partnership was vital in the midst of a pandemic, especially in reducing the burden of the public healthcare system.
The Covid-19 outbreak had opened the healthcare sector’s eyes to how costly it was to treat an individual, he said.
Kuljit’s call for a CBA came in the wake of a discussion among his association, the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia and the Malaysian Medical Association about the Covid-19 situation.
The three groups said they believed it had been proven that public-private partnerships could improve the quality of health services and help reduce the burden on public healthcare infrastructure while increasing citizens’ access to care.
Any policy change in healthcare, they said, should be made only after the conduct of a comprehensive CBA. - FMT

---