KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 (Bernama) -- A total of 24,734 patients have been referred to private hospitals as of Nov 30 since the Hospital Services Outsourcing Programme (HSOP) was implemented in July, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He said the number involved 1,027 nephrology patients; cardiology (7,899), cardiothoracic (344) and radiology (15,464) from 40 Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals to 91 private hospitals nationwide.
"Starting on July 18, 2024, a total of RM144 million has been allocated for this initiative and based on preliminary findings, it can reduce 75 per cent of patient waiting time for Arterio-Venous Fistula (AVF) surgery, which is from 16 weeks to four weeks; MRI and Ultrasound procedures (20 weeks to 16 weeks) and CT scans (14 weeks to 12 weeks).
"Therefore, we hope to continue to increase this public-private collaboration to enable more citizens to access fast and effective health services for the treatment they need," he said during a question and answer session at Dewan Negara today.
He was responding to a question from Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew who sought clarification on whether the government planned to purchase services from private hospitals, especially in cities and areas where specialist services were not available in public hospitals.
Dr Dzulkefly said outsourcing through HSOP aims to transform the delivery of health services with the payment mechanism set based on the concept of bundle payment covering procedures, consultations, medicines, follow-up treatment, and patient accommodation.
Through this HSOP programme, he said the Ministry of Health could also influence the price of private services in line with the concept of 'value-based healthcare'.
Responding to a supplementary question from Robert on whether the government was considering implementing a national health insurance scheme as proposed by many parties, Dr Dzukefly said the matter required careful consideration.
-- BERNAMA
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