The medical doctor said more private hospitals would mean more brain drain from public hospitals.

“Where do you think the new private hospitals will get their specialists?

“They will ‘pinch’ from the government hospitals, and the problem about lack of specialists in government hospitals will never end.

“We will never be able to stop the brain drain of specialists in government hospitals,” he told a programme yesterday organised by public health interest group, Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy.

Jeyakumar said most senior medical practitioners who enter the private sector automatically exclude themselves from training new doctors.

He said the government should introduce a plan where senior medical practitioners in government service can be retained.

“Yes you may be earning better pay in private hospitals, but in the process, you have stopped contributing to training the new doctors in the training hospitals.

“What happens then? Less specialists are produced and hence patients in government hospitals are deprived of treatment.

“The problem doesn’t stop there, because the bottom 40 (B40) population are dependent on these specialists to treat them (in government hospitals).

“They are trapped in this cycle as they cannot afford to go to a private hospital to seek treatment because of the expensive charges,” he said.

He said the social health insurance scheme by the health ministry is also a concern, and tied to the relationship between private hospitals and the state of public hospitals.

“The coverage amount of RM10,000 may seem helpful initially, but the B40 may not understand that medical fees in private hospitals can easily surpass the RM10,000 amount.”

He said once a patient sought treatment in a private hospital, he may not be able to turn back, depending on the severity of the illness.

“This will push him further into the already difficult state once he has exhausted the amount,” he said.

Jeyakumar said it was a mistake when Dr Mahathir Mohamad, during his first term as prime minister, allowed government-linked companies (GLC) to own hospitals.

“I think Dr Mahathir made a mistake to allow that, because the GLCs are only interested in making profit out of the hospitals.”

He said medical services in Malaysia is “big business”.

“In other countries, they talk about healthcare as a human right.”

In August, the Ministry of Health announced that it would roll out a social health insurance scheme for the B40 category by next year.

The scheme is part of Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto.

Critics have voiced their concern over the possible abuse of the insurance scheme and have urged the government to delay its announcement pending more studies.

Health activists have also questioned if the PH government was hasty in its decision.