Health Ministry to look into govt hospitals woes

IPOH, Aug 17 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry will give serious attention to the problems and issues faced by government hospitals in the country, said its Deputy Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye.

He said among the issues were lack of parking space, long waiting time for patients and shortage of medicines as well as trainee doctors.

"More allocation is needed for the primary healthcare, as well as to prevent people from getting sick," he told reporters after officiating the Neonatal Cardio Respiratory Conference at private specialist hospital here today.

The three-day event which began yesterday is aimed at enhancing the knowledge and expertise of medical practitioners in the neonatal cardio respiratory field in the country.

Dr Lee said as such, he hoped that the coming 2019 Budget would allocate more funds for improvement of the quality of the primary healthcare services in the country.

Meanwhile, he said the ministry hoped the country’s gross domestic product on healthcare could be increased to six to seven per cent from the current 4.4 per cent.

"The allocation needs to be properly spent, otherwise it may cause inflation," said Dr Lee, who is also the Gopeng MP.

-- BERNAMA