THE Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia has offered to help the government clear a backlog of 50,000 surgical and medical procedures that were put on hold due to the pandemic outbreak.

Its president Dr Kuljit Singh said the private hospitals could quickly convene efforts to treat patients on the waiting list of government healthcare facilities.

“We are happy to assist the government. The balance of patients that cannot be treated early at the public facilities should be transferred to the private hospitals at reasonable reimbursements as it was done last year.

“This will help to clear the backlog at a faster rate as it will not be realistic for the government hospitals to do this on their own,” Dr Kuljit said.

On Saturday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said government hospitals hoped to clear a large backlog surgical and medical procedures that were put on hold so that they could attend to the urgencies of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kuljit was confident that private hospitals had the capability and capacity to help after treating thousands of  decanted non-Covid-19 patients from the government facilities at the peak of the pandemic last year.

“More than 95% of the private specialists were formally trained and had worked in the public hospitals in the past.

“In some parts of the country there are more private hospitals than public hospitals. Though the total number of beds may be fewer, the facilities for investigation and treatment can be made available based on the capacity and capability of the individual private hospital.” – January 17, 2022.