Why the disparity in our public hospitals now?

Credit: Alamy. Please note: this blog generates no financial returns.

Acknowledging that “at University Hospital, it's already like that for years, with the private Specialist centre added”, a friend asked me why a Green lane is created for the rich at public hospitals. 

Here are my thoughts: 

1. The wealthy still tend to prefer public hospitals due to their more advanced facilities. For example, my cousin recommended I go to IKN instead of undergoing radiotherapy at SJMC for that very reason. The entire 37 sessions cost only a few hundred ringgit, as opposed to RM20,000—which AIA initially said wasn’t covered.

2. Wee Ka Siong also went to IKN, though of course, he received priority service and no waiting. He arrived and departed swiftly for his appointment, clearly highlighting the disparity between the haves and have-nots.

3. If the hospital treats every patient equally—whether rich or poor—it does not discriminate by directing the wealthy to private facilities.

4. A green lane is available for fee-paying patients, and the revenue is used to improve services for the underprivileged.

5. We’re not like Brunei, blessed with abundant petroleum reserves—thanks to over 60 years under BN and the billions siphoned off. At our current rate of output, Malaysia’s reserves may be depleted in the next 15–20 years, with no new fields discovered.

6. Any method by which hospitals can generate their own income would be beneficial. If you have any suggestions, please do share a viable solution.

7. Expanding from point (4), whether now or in the past, our capitalist system has been inherently discriminatory to the poor, even when the country was wealthy. 

When Dr Mahathir diverted Petronas funds to build mega projects and benefitting his cronies instead of improving education and healthcare, wasn’t that equally unjust? If the priorities had been right, we could have become a first world nation by now like Singapore.

We should examine the entire system and advocate for genuine reform—rather than present generation being too comfortable and spoilt by handouts

True change will only take place when the next generation is prepared to face the reality confronting our nation.

8. When Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister, he told the ultra rich who had benefited substantially from cronyism and nepotism, if they came out with the money to help the nation, he would not pursue them all the way. 

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary was probably one of a handful of others that agreed to come out with the money to help the B40 community. Instead of the government using its own Human Resources and many man hours to drag people through the court processes, Anwar focuses on a few key cases worth billions. It is the Pareto principle: focus on the 20% that produces that 80% returns. 

When I was working with Union Carbide, we also exercised product rationalisation. Previously, the old management created a lot of products. Every new product the laboratory introduced, it is a minimum of a few tonnes coming out of the smallest 4-tonne reactor. The inventory was high on slow-moving products.

After product rationalisation was carried out, many of these slow-moving products were phased out. Based on my analysis, we identified the 20% most profitable products and focused on them. That is the most logical and efficient way to manage the manufacturing processes and inventory.