Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said all consumables and single-use medical devices utilised for patients with blood-borne diseases were disposed of after use.
Likewise, he said, the majority of consumables and single-use medical devices for other patients were also disposed of after use.
“However, there are some single-use medical devices that are used more than once, after it has undergone reprocessing via thorough cleansing and sterilisation processes.
“This has been long practised in Malaysia and it has no correlation with health financing or budget issues,” he said in a statement today.
According to him, this was a norm even at private healthcare facilities, and in developed countries such as the US.
“The US FDA, for instance, has listed 229 single-use devices known to be reprocessed or considered for reprocessing,” he said, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.
He was responding to two reports published by FMT today, titled “Govt hospitals recycling single-use devices to save money” and “Safe to reuse disposable devices, says health ministry.”
In the first report, a highly placed source in the health sector told FMT that a lack of funds was driving some government hospitals to recycle single-use devices, which could affect patient safety.
“This includes equipment used in neurosurgery to cardiology, and even in general surgeries. In cases where equipment used to be thrown away, doctors are now being asked to recycle the equipment,” the source said.
He said hospitals were also asking patients to buy medication and have their tests done externally due to financial constraints, and that some hospitals could not afford to repair machinery that had broken down or needed to be serviced.
The second report quoted Noor Hisham as saying that disposable medical devices and single-use equipment can be used safely up to three times.
Noor Hisham added that reusing such equipment would not be considered unsanitary as it was autoclaved, or cleaned through steam sterilisation.
He added that the practice did not involve any equipment used on patients with infectious diseases.
Speaking today, Noor Hisham highlighted the findings of a survey by the Medical Device Authority (MDA) which he said revealed that 37% out of 40 private hospitals reused and reprocessed single-use devices as well.
He said the trending of healthcare associated infections (HCAI) had improved “tremendously” over the years, with HCAI prevalence at government healthcare facilities at 1.65% in October 2016 compared to 3.3% in March 2009 and 4% reported in a 2009 study by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Similarly, the healthcare associated blood stream infection in ministry health facilities was at an all-time low in 2016, which is only 0.22%, as compared to 9.9% quoted in the same study by CDC in 2009.”
He said the health ministry had also made significant progress with the Medical Device Act (Act 737) which came into effect in 2012, allowing medical devices in Malaysia to be better regulated.
“The MDA is in the process of drafting holistic guidelines and policies on the reprocessing of medical devices, by drawing expert opinions and best practices as practised in the US, Canada, Australia and EU nations for the reprocessing of single-use medical devices.
“This is an iterative process led by the MDA and will take into consideration all kind of factors, with the main focus on patient safety,” he added.