A total of 2,293 patients are on a waiting list to undergo cardiothoracic surgeries in government hospitals, with some of them facing an average wait time of seven months, says health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
In a written parliamentary reply, Dzulkefly said patients waiting to undergo procedures such as coronary artery bypass graft must wait about seven months on average.
Meanwhile, there were 603 elective cases of paediatric cardiothoracic surgery, with the patients needing to wait an average of 21 months.
“This service is available in seven government hospitals that provide cardiothoracic surgeries.
“Paediatric cardiothoracic surgeries are in the meantime conducted by adult cardiothoracic specialists or referred to the National Heart Institute (IJN) because paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons are still being trained,” he said.
Dzulkefly said 2,661 patients were waiting to undergo procedures to remove kidney stones, with each one expected to wait 11 months.
He said the procedure was only provided by 13 public hospitals with resident urology surgeons.
Another 9,233 patients are waiting to undergo cataract surgeries, with a waiting period of about three months. He said 56 government hospitals provided this operation.
To reduce the wait time for surgical procedures, Dzulkefly said the ministry had placed more surgical specialists in more hospitals without a resident specialist.
It is also working to reduce wait times through public-private partnerships.
