Remember this? This came out during the
china girl controversy.Read
here for the breaking story.
As usual, there is a public outcry at these actions of a supposedly "foriegn owned" hospital. Private hospitals never had a good reputation, but this isnt that bad either.
Look and read the comments in Mr ooi`s blog. And the publics reaction in general. Malaysians are very one minded, narrow minded, incapable of thinking outside the box, and want everything to their whims.
As usual, the public decries the private hospitals, calling them money leeches, no compasion, inhumane, murders. In 4 languages.
Thankfully, for every narrow minded Malaysian thinking he`s so great and venting out at Mr ooi`s blog, there are still people with a clear mind.Read:
This case is not new, and happeneed many times before. It is just highlighted now because of the high profile patient.This happens because of the healthcare system in Malaysia. Like many things wrong with bolehland, this is merely a symptom of a structural defect.There is a clear dichotomy in the healthy care delivery and financing system. On one hand is the general taxation funded public hospitals. This is underfunded, with underpaid staff, congested, slow and often deemed inferior by the very public it serves.On the other hand is the privately funded and run private hospitals, owned mostly by businessman/Big Business, profit orientated, "expensive", luxurious, deem "superior" by many.As a business, these private hospitals will have to make decisions based on business principles. Bad debts can run to millions, and the hospital like any other businese, will have to take steps to reduce this exposure. Hence policy decisons deem heartless by many in this forum. Which is why many countries opted for the socialised health care system, where there private health care plays a small part.On the other hand, socialised health care system is expensive, and many in bolehland used to "free" health care in the government hospital will object to paying say 10% of your salary, towards such a system. The administration of such a system eats up a significant portion of this fund, and with bolehland's track record of public fund management, are you all sure you want to entrust this big sum of money to the government?Finally, do not confuse hospitals with doctors, and bash the innocent doctors as well. These private businessman own hospitals have their own policies, and doctors are either employed or under contract, and hence "just work there" and have little or no say in such policy matters. No doctor will refuse treatment of patients in an emergency, but they may NOT be allowed to treat, or may NOT even be informed about the patient.Having said that, there has been cases in the US where doctors have REFUSED to treat patients in an emergency out of their work place, say at a road accident. This is because there were cases where altruistic doctors who stopped to help, had been SUED by the patients and relatives for malpractice when adverse outcome occurs. It got so bad, the US government had to enact a new law call the "Good Samaritan" Law, which forbade sueing of such doctors who stopped to help in emergencies.Bottom line is, the issues facing us now are more complex and complicated than the black and white opinions many have on this case.Think deeper. There is no perfect system or solution, just a choosen mix of trade-offs.Posted by: limeuu at December 1, 2005 06:42 PMWe need more people like this fella in this world. If everyone in the world thought like this, critically, open minded, non-discriminatory, the world would be a MUCH MUCH better place.
A socialised health model is a disaster. Not only in Malaysia, but to the rest of the world. Any socialist system DOES NOT work, what more for a important system like the health system.
Here`s how a socialist system works. It is based on my knowledge of the British system:
The people gets free health care. There is no such thing as a Gavamen of Praivat hospital. All hospitals are the same. People get the same health system.
When you go to the "si bang lau"(polyclinic), the medcine is free. Go to the dentist, even if the chabuts a teeth out, its free. Heck, if u need glasses, its free! Just go to the optiction, test your eyes, come back to the shop 2 weeks later, test wearing, and just walk out after signing a form! No need to pay! Fever? Send to the nearest clinic! Free treatment. "Tiok leng"? Go and see a specialist, free!
(I just realised with this system, maybe all the "sinseh`s" will go bankrupt!)
Sounds like heaven eh? Free doctor checkup, free dental checkup, braces are free, medcine is free, no doctors demanding RM5000 b4 he will treat you. Yep. This is the system we Malaysians want right? Dont lie, I know we all want it. I know you better than that. Give me give me give me, what I want!
But are we willing to pay 17.5% goods tax (as opposed to 5%)? Are we willing to give the zheng hu 40% of our paycheck? Do you trust the gavamen to take our EPF for the medical sector? Heck, do you even trust the government to manage our money?
A socialist system will be a disaster. Even in stable, established low corruption countries like England, Sweeden etc, the socialist model has proved disasterous in the long run.
Witness this:
Kai, Big Business which owns private hospitals has no "oath" except to maximise profits.It is a given that if you let private business own and run healthcare, this WILL happen. So why are everybody so surprise and upset???The alternative is public run healthcare. Anybody is at the liberty of using highly subsidised health care at government facilities.No public hospital near enough? Money minded and expensive private hospitals? Then BLAME the present government for not building and funding enough PUBLIC FUNDED facilities and ALLOWING private hospitals.Put your money where your mouth is. Attend and support Dr, Kumar's group against privatisation of healthcare.However, be prepared for long waiting lists, congestion, and rationing of health care. Because there is no perfect system.A possible scenerio in the socialised health model. This poor boy was brought to the government hospital, but because all the personnel were occupied with 3 other emergencies, he was not initially attended to. Then he was found to have a major blood vessel injury and needed a vascular surgeon. There was none, because the only one is on leave (or had just resigned and went off to an Island down South because he was fed up with his peanuts pay and no promotion). The victim eventually died.Now what would be the reaction? Clamour for the government to allow private hospitals where they can be more effieient and patients have faster access to care?For the young ones, what I discribed was the actual scenerio some 20 years ago.See what I mean?Posted by: limeuu at December 2, 2005 12:39 PM As much as I hate to admit it, limeuu has a point here. Health care has IMPROVED since the British era. At least we can get health care here now. In the old days, my grandparents had to fly to Singapore and Hong Kong for MAJOR medical treatment. And that was if you had lui. Bo lui, bo mia! Sinple as that!
Today, In kuching, you can have everyting done in GH. And now we have Normah, Timberland, the new one at Tabuan Dayak (whatits name?). Now the state cheng hu building a INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL center near UNIMAS. At the rate were going we dont need to go anywhere!
Medical costs are skyrocketing. Drugs are not cheap. The major drug companys like
pfizer,
ALTANA, Roche,
AstraZeneca,
Johnson & Johnson, spend BILLIONS on research. And thats in US$. It`ll take them years to recoup their costs. And the medical sector is only second in speed to computers in research. New drugs come out all the time. So do new computers. New dieseases are being treated. So do now we have 4 digit price tag
X2`s.
My point is, medicine is not cheap. The RM1 you pay when u go to si bang lau, is symbolic. Its almost free! The RM 500 you pay for staying 2 nites in GH, is a token ammount to what the gov pays(subsidises).
It may be hard for us laymen, but we have to understand doctors too. They are still human. They are at the mercy of price increases like us. They have limits. They dont dictate the prices. If you want to vent out your anger, vent at the Hospital administration. Drug companys. But not doctors. Espically those in the zheng hu part. Most, if not all of them are dying to get out to gov sector, coz the gov pays them penauts.
There is no black and white anwser. A socialist system is not the silver bulet. But we cannot continue with our system where the poor supposedly die, while the rich suposedly are given better treatment. The public has to understand this.
I hope this counter balances any bias in the public against doctors. There are too many stories of "greedy" doctors. Well, I think there is an greater number of unscruplus traders.
