Soaring costs forcing private clinics to close up shop

Ragananthini Vethasalam Ragananthini Vethasalam Updated 7 years ago · Published on 27 May 2019 7:00AM · 3 Comments

ESCALATING operating costs are forcing doctors in private practice to close their clinics, said Malaysian Islamic Doctors Association president Dr Ahmad Shukri Ismail.

He told The Malaysian Insight that at least 500 private clinics were shuttered in the past few years, and more are expected to follow suit if no solution is found.

“Rental has increased by almost 100%, while utility bills have gone up by 50%.”

As for medication, the prices of generic products have seen a hike of up to 45%, and patented ones, 60%.

Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining medical equipment has jumped 35%, while staff payroll, 60%.

“The increase in rental and medication (prices) adds pressure to operations,” said Dr Ahmad.

As expected, he said, clinics in cities are feeling the pinch more than those operating in smaller towns.

He said many senior doctors have opted to either run clinics on a joint-venture basis or sell off their businesses.

In view of the soaring costs, more and more patients are opting for treatment at government healthcare facilities.

Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad recently said Putrajaya will control medicine prices through the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act to ensure prescriptions are affordable for the low-income group.

The mechanism entails the implementation of a ceiling price for medicines.

A 2016 Malaysian Medical Association study, Health Economics of General Practitioners in Malaysia: Trends, Challenges and Moving Forward, found that some 500 clinics closed up shop between 2014 and the year under review.

The study, which covered 1,800 general practitioners, said the cost of operating a clinic in an urban area ranged between RM50,000 and RM60,000 a month.

It cited decreasing business as the reason behind the closures, with about 70% of respondents saying their clinics saw fewer than 30 patients a day on average. – May 27, 2019.

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Comments

  • Poorly written article. Lots of numbers thrown around, but very little useful information. "500 clinics shut in past few years "??? Compared to what? 30 patients a day??? Compared to what?
    Article research seems to have been done in a coffee shop?

    Posted 7 years ago by Viji Rajasundram · Reply

  • This racist association is a umno outfit and a disgrace.They used to be fed on the plate because they were umno cronies.Many clinics are making mony but those cronies have to close shop.

    Posted 7 years ago by Ron Gan · Reply

  • The sad reality is that much of what this article says is true but the causes for this state of affairs have not been explained. A large part of the problem lies with the health ministry which has unnecessarily poked its nose into micromanaging these private clinics. If left to market forces there would be a check and balance in the quality, pricing and efficiency of these establishments without detriment to either patient or clinic. However, with the introduction of a mountain of stultifying rules, regulations and penalties which border on the ridiculous, these clinics have been hard-pressed to barely survive. The government, in fact, has been trying very hard to remake these private clinics into just another inefficient klinik kerajaan which much of the public shun. It is because of the unhappiness with what the government has to offer at the outpatient level that the public had always turned to the private sector for relief.
    Another more sinister reason is the involvement of big and influential business people, especially those in the pharmaceutical industry who have a vested interested in seeing the collapse of the private clinic institution. I would not be surprised if it is precisely THEIR plan and agenda which the minister of health and his civil service officers are enthusiastically rushing to implement. This nefarious strategy is two-pronged, with each prong as deadly as the other. The first is to deny any increase in consultation fees which remains unchanged at RM10 for simple cases for the past quarter-century! How does one survive in any profession at such appallingly low rates? So that severs one crucial, legitimate income source for the medical practitioner. In case the more resilient may survive that vicious onslaught, the demons in government and big pharma have now proposed to fatally throttle and kill the stubborn holdouts by pushing the price of medicines to unsustainable levels that it is not worth practising anymore. When one cannot even pay the staff salaries, rent and utilities, even the most resilient will have to fold.
    This is a crime which is going unnoticed when an entire section of a profession is being systematically destroyed and dispatched to oblivion. At the end of the day when this sordid sage leaves only one winner, namely big pharma and those minions in government, the general public as always will bear the brunt and price of this outrageous act, having nowhere to turn to but the monopolies of the pharmacies and private hospitals for their health issues.

    Posted 7 years ago by Simple Sulaiman · Reply