SERDANG, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- Minimum public contribution is needed following
the rising cost of healthcare in the country, former Prime Minister Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad said today.
At present, he said the healthcare system in the country was non-
contributory, which was started by the British and it was cheap where a cough
medicine cost only one cent.
"Today, one capsule may cost as much as RM10 and if you have to take four
capsules a day for five days, the government will not be able to support
that.
"So, maybe there is a case for some contribution towards the cost of
healthcare....It (healthcare) is very costly now where an operation can cost
you RM100,000. How can the government support this?" he said when asked to
comment on the proposed 1Care health system, here, today.
Earlier, Dr Mahathir, who is the chancellor of Perdana University (PU),
delivered his vision for 2012 to university staff, faculty members and pioneer
medical students of Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine (PUGSOM) and
PU Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland School of Medicine (PU-RCSI).
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MAHATHIR-HEALTHCARE 2 SERDANG
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir urged lawyers not to practise "let''s sue the doctors"
as it would cause the medical fees to be very costly in the country.
He said litigation found in many countries had made doctors afraid of
legal action taken against them and hence charged their patients high fees.
"In some countries, lawyers approach the patients and tell them ''let''s sue
the doctors, then we split the money if we get any award''.
"This is a very bad practice. I hope lawyers in this country will not do
such a thing. If you do that, the cost of medical treatment will be high,
resulting in many not able to access treatment," he said.
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia also needed more highly qualified doctors and
nurses to serve the population who demanded better healthcare services.
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MAHATHIR-HEALTHCARE 3 (LAST) SERDANG
"You can see the country is growing rapidly and our society needs better
services. We don''t want our people to depend on other countries for such
services.
"For that, we need to have the best qualified professionals and doctors
where they are trained by well-known universities and colleges," he said.
Dr Mahathir also said that Malaysian nurses were in demand overseas,
especially in the Middle East and Brunei, so more nurses needed to be trained to
replace them.
"The high demand for them overseas is a recognition of our nurses''
capability. I''ve been told that Malaysian nurses working in the Middle East are
recognised at par with those from Europe and earn good salary," he said.
-- BERNAMA
KHL KHL MO
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