This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 21, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Private healthcare, the preferred option for those who can afford it, is reportedly seeing a drop in patients, and practitioners are attributing the trend to the increased cost of living and the ringgit’s depreciation against the US dollar.

Tan Sri Dr Ridzwan Bakar, a consultant cardiologist at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, said some of his patients had switched to public hospitals.

He noticed a 10% drop in the number of admissions to private hospitals since April last year, when the goods and services tax (GST) was implemented. 

“I think this is the general finding of almost all doctors working in private hospitals in the Klang Valley,” the cardiologist with more than 30 years of experience in private healthcare told The Malaysian Insider.

“The drop has remained persistent towards the end of last year,” added the former president of the Association of Private Hospitals.

“People have less disposable income,” said another industry professional, Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Ashok Philip.

“We have [the] GST, the economy is not so buoyant, the ringgit has depreciated, and times are uncertain.”

Correspondingly, the number of people seeking treatment in public hospitals appears to have risen. Public healthcare in Malaysia is almost free and certain treatments are subsidised, although patients have to endure a longer waiting period compared to private healthcare.

“My colleagues at public hospitals have noticed a 25% rise in the number of admissions in public hospitals,” Dr Ridzwan said. Dr Ashok concurred.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a reply to The Malaysian Insider said government facilities had seen a steady increase in demand for services, but he did not have data from the private sector to compare with.

To cope with the numbers, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry had increased public healthcare facilities, especially Klinik 1Malaysia, employed more staff by an average of 9% annually and expanded the scope of primary healthcare services. 

Figures from the ministry show an increase in total admissions at government hospitals by 13.9%, from 2.16 million patients in 2013 to 2.46 million last year. — The Malaysian Insider