Think tank moots govt takeover of private hospital in PJ

PETALING JAYA: A health think tank has suggested that the government consider leasing a medium-sized private hospital in Petaling Jaya and taking over its operations as a public hospital.

Galen Centre CEO Azrul Khalib said this would be a more immediate and practical method to address the lack of public hospitals in the area, and could also be more cost-effective.

Azrul said Putrajaya could take over one of the many private hospitals in PJ for 10 to 15 years while a public hospital is built, or permanently take over operations through a negotiated acquisition or long-term concession.

“The health ministry could lease the facility, contract existing staff, retain essential clinical teams, and convert services to public hospital rates,” he said in a statement.

“This would not eliminate the need for a future purpose-built public general hospital. However, it would prevent another decade of waiting. It would immediately increase public hospital capacity in PJ, and reduce pressure on neighbouring hospitals.”

He said this would give Putrajaya some breathing space to plan for a proper government facility in PJ, while still delivering public tertiary healthcare services quickly and at scale.

Azrul added that rushing into a mega-hospital project in PJ would be a knee-jerk reaction when residents need these services now. He also said that such a facility would probably take about a decade to complete.

“Some will say private hospitals are too expensive to take over lock, stock, and barrel. Others will say private facilities are not designed like public hospitals. Staffing will remain a problem.

“All true, but this proposal can be adapted faster than bare land can be turned into a functioning tertiary healthcare facility. Staffing a leased operational hospital may be easier and more cost-effective than building, equipping, and staffing a brand-new hospital.”

High costs, staffing needs

Azrul said building a public hospital from scratch would incur high costs and take years, citing the proposed 76-bed Maran Hospital which was set to cost RM350 million and approved under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) before being scrapped this year.

He said a modern hospital was akin to a small township requiring land, roads, utilities, medical facilities, clinical waste management, infection control systems, digital infrastructure, and a complex logistics and medical supply chain.

There was also the need for thousands of healthcare workers and hospital staff, with the public health sector already facing a shortage of the former, he added.

“New hospitals would be forced to cannibalise doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and administrators from existing hospitals and clinics, diminishing the latter’s capacity to provide healthcare services.

“The 304-bed RM375.5 million Pasir Gudang Hospital, despite being declared operational in August last year, is struggling to operate with more than 60% of approved positions remaining unfilled,” he said.

Misplaced priorities, policy failure

Azrul slammed previous governments for failing to allocate funds for a public hospital in PJ despite the city’s rapid development, saying this reflected misplaced priorities.

“They allowed a major city to grow around private hospitals, commercial developments, highways, and high-density housing, but not around a proper public hospital. What we are seeing today is not a sudden crisis but the result of years of deferred responsibility.”

He pointed to Putrajaya’s fuel subsidies, saying the billions allocated for these could have been channelled towards a public hospital in PJ.

“We cannot keep saying there is no money while spending billions each month subsidising petrol and diesel. That is not fiscal prudence but policy failure,” said Azrul.

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today