THE Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) will engage with government hospitals in an effort to help solve the long waiting list despite the current “full beds” situation in private hospitals.

APHM president Dr Kuljit Singh said his organisation will work out a strategy to share resources with the Health Ministry to fix the long waiting list of patients for elective procedures and diagnostic tests.

This way, he said, the ministry can buy services at an agreed rate, which will ease the situation.

However, Kuljit highlighted that private hospitals are also facing a shortage of some regular medications for upper respiratory conditions, hence unable to open more services to meet the demand.

He said APHM will also work with the relevant ministries to assist private hospitals in employing foreign nurses, saying that one common constraint both public and private hospitals has is to employ trained nurses with experience.

“Despite the shortage of some medications for upper respiratory conditions, we welcome the decision made by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to release federal medical stockpiles to private hospitals and clinics facing shortages,” he said.

“APHM will soon discuss with Pharmaniaga Berhad on the mechanism of obtaining these medications from the government stockpile and will make every effort to work with the regulators to assist private hospitals in employing foreign nurses by removing the current bureaucracy.”

Yesterday, Khairy said government hospitals and clinics will release stockpiles of medicines to private healthcare facilities to address the drug shortage.

Media reported the minister as saying that the move to release the federal stockpile of medicines would be done immediately to ease shortages that are being experienced in private clinics and hospitals as well as community pharmacies.

He attributed the shortage – mostly to treat fever, flu and cough – to unusually high demand and supply chain issues caused by Covid-19 lockdowns in China.

The Russia-Ukraine war is also a disrupting factor, he said.

Khairy said the ministry made the decision to release the federal stockpile yesterday after meeting representatives from pharmaceutical associations, industry players and suppliers. – July 16, 2022.