SOME public hospitals are starting to transfer their non-Covid-19 patients to private healthcare facilities to better deal with coronavirus cases.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the government has entered into a deal with private hospitals to treat non-Covid-19 patients at no additional cost to the patients and at a lower than normal cost to the government.

“It’s not the normal pricing. We have negotiated the costs,” he told a press conference today.

Noor Hisham was asked on concerns raised on social media about patients who have been discharged to make room for Covid-19 patients at public hospitals.

He confirmed that in addition to private hospitals, non-Covid-19 patients were also being referred to district and university hospitals.

“We have cancelled all our elective cases in Covid-19 hospitals, and we decant them (to other hospitals),” he said, adding that surgical departments continue to oversee cases and perform surgeries as usual.

Noor Hisham said there are 71 hospitals nationwide capable of screening patients for the coronavirus, with 42 hospitals that can provide treatment.

There are seven hospitals that treat Covid-19 solely.

In a recent partnership between the ministry and the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia, private hospitals agreed to take in non Covid-19 patients in exchange for tax breaks.

Under the programme, supported by the Malaysian Medical Association of Malaysia (MMA), participating hospitals would receive tax incentives or deductible allowances/rebates, with tax exemption or lower tax rates for participating doctors.

There would also be an indemnity cover for medico-legal implication to be extended to participating doctors and hospitals. – April 9, 2020.