KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is hoping to see its first RakanKKM patient by year-end, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
“We will begin with Cyberjaya Hospital. Hopefully by the end of the year, we will see our first patient for the RakanKKM elective service,” the Health Minister said in Parliament’s Special Chambers session on Monday (Nov 3).
He said the success of the scheme would be measured based on the wait time for patients and the ability to retain specialists in the public healthcare system, adding that staff involved in RakanKKM would also be paid.
He said that although RakanKKM is a government initiative, the Private Healthcare Facilities & Services Act 1998 will apply on licensing for RakanKKM Sdn Bhd.
“This will create a level playing field with the private sector. It will allow RakanKKM to be a credible benchmark in terms of competition and pricing,” he said.
However, he dismissed notions that RakanKKM amounts to privatisation of healthcare.
“This initiative is owned by the government through the Minister of Finance Inc (MOF Inc). For the future, maybe there might be investments from government-linked investment companies. For now, the ministry is the custodian, but it is owned by MOF Inc. There is nothing like privatisation.
“Here we can see the difference from full paying patients (FPP) service,” he said, adding that even FPP cannot be categorised as a private service.
He said RakanKKM will also have spillover effects on non-RakanKKM patients, as the latter too will have access to the extended hours for services such as MRI and CT scans, which usually do not operate after 5pm
“It is going to be win-win-win,” he said.
Dzulkefly was responding to a question by Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) on whether the initiative would actually expedite elective cases and whether the government’s premium economy service is a form of privatisation of public healthcare.
“My main question is whether this will strengthen the public healthcare system or will it result in two service classes in our public (healthcare) system?” asked the MCA president.
Dr Wee also asked whether there is a mechanism to monitor wait time with this initiative.
He had also questioned whether this would lead to a disparity in services between patients at the public healthcare system, which is already grappling with serious backlogs and those under the premium economy service who will be paying a certain fee for the service.
