PRIVATE hospitals want yearly reserve seats in local public medical universities in multiple disciplines, the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) said today.

In a statement, APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh said this will expedite the progress of candidates funded by private hospitals.

Kuljit said that in a workshop with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently, they discussed the proposal of private hospitals training their own specialists. 

He said this would benefit hundreds of government medical officers who are still waiting for contracts or permanent jobs. 

“Current opportunities for medical officers to be trained as specialists and then to be given a post in the government sector is limited,” he said. 

Kuljit said that while the government was concerned over brain drain, the greater worry now was the lack of opportunities for younger doctors to be trained as specialists, who later serve in the public and private hospitals. 

“Many migrate to the private sector. One of the main pull factors is the remuneration and the freedom to practise using advanced technology. 

“It is known that private healthcare contributes greatly to a segment of patients in this country. 

“It also further increases tax income and job opportunities to non-specialists such as private nurses, allied health and administrators,” he said. 

Kuljit said the practice of medicine and surgery in private hospitals largely depended on competent specialists who are trained with experience from the public healthcare system. 

He also hoped that the private specialisation programme conducted by the KPJ Healthcare University College could further accommodate a larger number of doctors to undertake multiple specialisations. 

“Besides KPJ University, the other private hospitals may embark on their own programme but the processes could be tedious and complicated,” he said. 

Private hospitals could also have an international training programme with international colleges for membership and fellowship as an option, he added. 

“Such candidates sponsored by private hospitals will have long-term bonds to serve their patients,” he said. – December 3, 2021.