Dr Kuljit Singh, president of the private hospitals association, said private hospitals have been discussing the issue with insurers but these discussions did not seem promising.

He said insurers were still rejecting the idea of funding Covid-19 patients.

Speaking at an online forum organised by the Malaysian Medical Association, he said insurers feared they would not be able to cope with Covid-19 payouts.

“They are judging this mainly on data by the health ministry – the infectivity of Covid-19 and the number of patients who end up in the intensive care unit. They’re very worried that if numbers go high, they may not be able to pay for it.”

He said pandemics were not covered by health insurance as it is part of an exclusion clause in their policies.

Elaborating further, he said a recent announcement of a RM100 million fund for private hospitals was only meant for patients decanted from the public hospitals into the private sector. “When they decide to decant, there will be discussions among specialists whether to accept the patients or not, and the payments they will decide based on certain caps.”

“That RM100 million is not meant for private Covid-19 patients,” he said.

Kuljit said private hospitals are expected to continue to suffer losses this year as there may be fewer patients seeking treatment at private hospitals due to scepticism once they begin taking in Covid-19 patients.

“When you admit one Covid-19 patient, we also have to close down a number of beds in the particular area. We also would need to absorb that loss. There are a lot of hidden costs to treat Covid-19 patients that private hospitals would not be charging our patients.”

However, he said the government should come up with a plan to assist patients with Covid-19 regardless of whether they visit public or private facilities.

He added that private hospitals taking in Covid-19 patients will strictly separate Covid and non-Covid patients. He also said they would have very limited capacities to take in these patients.

“Once we fill up that capacity we have declared, we stop there. And then we will go to the Joint Command Centre at the health ministry and tell them we are full. We tailor-make our capacity based on safety, for our patients and doctors,” he said.

Meanwhile, vocal critic Dr Musa Nordin, a consultant paediatrician, said private hospitals must be clear about their limitations.

He said that the idea of hybrid hospitals treating both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients was a dangerous one, and he suggested that the private sector should set aside dedicated hospitals just for Covid-19 cases.

He also cautioned that there may be a rise in other vaccine-preventable diseases and infections when patients ignore their immunisation schedules at private facilities due to fears of contracting Covid-19.