Malaysia's private hospitals to play bigger role in COVID-19 battle

The government is integrating public and private hospitals as the healthcare system is at its breaking point.

Private hospitals in Malaysia will play a bigger role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, following the enactment of an emergency ordinance to mobilise resources of the private healthcare sector, according to a report from Fitch Solutions.

As part of the emergency effort, the government will integrate both public and private hospital services for better coordination. Both public hospitals and participating private ones will operate in a hybrid cluster under the Malaysian government’s COVID-19 Integrated Control Centre to treat patients with the virus or otherwise, based on the Ministry of Health's directions.

Hospitals involved are currently converting some of its wards to accommodate COVID-19 cases, whilst some like Sunway Medical Centre, located in the Klang Valley suburb of Subang Jaya, are expanding their capacity to take in more cases.

In total, 96 out of 210 registered private hospitals throughout Malaysia have agreed to provide COVID-19 treatment during the country’s state of emergency, which is effective from 11 January to 1 August. They will add an additional 1,344 beds and 65 beds in ICU for treatment, according to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

The surge in the number of cases is expected to paralyse the existing capacity of the country’s healthcare system. Yassin admitted that Malaysia's healthcare system is at its breaking point as government hospitals are unable to support over 2,000 new positive cases per day.

He also bared that 15 hospitals are seeing utilisation rates of more than 70% of non-intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

In the Klang Valley, the take-up of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Malaya Medical Centre have reached maximum capacity, whilst Sungai Buloh Hospital has reached 83% of its total capacity.

Meanwhile, more than 1,450 medical officers at hospitals nationwide have been infected or directed to undergo quarantine.

Malaysia opened its health sector to further private involvement, as resources at public facilities remain stretched, with long waiting times for non-emergency services and substantial demand for beds in public hospitals.

The government is providing tax rebates for setting up new private hospitals, refurbishing an existing establishment, buying new equipment and applying for international accreditation. From a split of about 80:20 between public and private facilities a decade ago, it is now nearly 70:30.

“Government efforts to encourage the development of the private sector have been helped in recent years by rising incomes, the expansion of health insurance and the opening of specialist facilities,” the report said.