Gov't tells private hospitals to improve daycare services

KUALA LUMPUR: Private hospitals have been told to step up their daycare services to avoid congestion in their facilities.
Director-General of Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said it has come to his attention that day care services were under-utilised.
Explaining that the concept of daycare services implies that the patients come into the hospital to undergo diagnostic or therapeutic procedure and go home on the same day, he said over the last two Malaysia Plans, the Ministry of Health has built dedicated "Ambulatory Care Centres" (ACC) for this purpose at some of the state and major specialist hospitals.
At present, the ministry has nine such purpose built ACCs consisting of multidisciplinary units and over 130 public hospitals providing daycare services.
The objectives of daycare services are:
» To allow the patient to return home on the day of surgery with minimal
disruption to daily life
» For elderly person, avoiding the disorientation and decreased
functionality associated with hospital admission
» Decrease costs associated with inpatient hospital stay
» Reduce surgical waiting time for patients
» Avoiding risk of nosocomial infections
» To encourage increase utilisation of daycare services for paediatric
group of patients, because it provides minimal separation from parents
and minimal exposure to hospital environment
» To reduce inpatient admission
Noor Hisham said the move allows the full utilisation of other health services needed by other patients.
Citing Ipoh Hospital as an example, he said, some 40% to 45% of the cases can be treated at day care services.
He also called on insurance companies to review their policies by allowing patients to make claims when admitted under daycare.
"Currently, insurance companies only allow patients to claim if they're admitted as in-patients. This needs to be changed," he told reporters after launching the Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care Group inaugural specialists conference here today.
On another issue, he said, the ministry is studying the possibility of setting up aged-care centres with 15% of the population ageing.