april , 2021 | The Health

| The Health says ... |

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Autoimmune diseases in kids Four things scientists now know about autoimmune diseases in children

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The BMW 7 series bikers The writer , a cycling enthusiast , just hit 70 and is already looking forward to the next 10-year milestone

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Burnout in academia The physiological effects of contagion and isolation go beyond fear of contracting the Covid-19 virus

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Improve the methodology When investigating vaccine linkage in adverse events , can the procedure be further improved ?

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Space innovations in healthcare Whether to save lives or as cosmetic purposes , space innovations and inventions have aided healthcare

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Transforming healthcare This first of two articles explains how 3D printing can improve the lives of people around the world

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Preservation of life The efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines is generally great , with some vaccines cited beyond 95 per cent

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• Dr Hanafiah spearheads UKM ’ s KL Health Campus

• Dr Noor Hisham awarded honorary doctorate

It is surprising that even during the pandemic , the prices of these goods and services continue to escalate when they should instead be reduced due to dampened demand .

We don ’ t really know who is at fault here . All we know is suppliers , manufacturers , hospitals and insurance companies are raising their prices and blaming each other for it .

Health insurers say their higher premiums are based on the higher charges imposed by private hospitals , who blame suppliers for increasing prices and who , in turn , point the finger at manufacturers .

In this blame game , it ’ s the consumer who gets the short end of the stick . And the government does little to protect them .

Why not impose a cap on the charges by private hospitals similar to that imposed on private practitioners ?

It is no secret that many private hospital groups enjoy good profits , especially the listed ones . Their primary motivation is to reward shareholders with higher dividends than fulfil their corporate social responsibility ( CSR ).

Given that 75 per cent of private hospitals in the country are operated by government-linked companies , shouldn ’ t they be setting a good example instead of exploiting the public ?

While private hospitals may offer services that are at times difficult to quantify in terms of ringgit and sen , how do we ensure they do not blatantly overcharge for certain goods and services ?

Last year , a well-known private hospital was fined RM200,000 for overpricing face masks . It had charged a patient RM11.20 for a mask when the government ’ s ceiling price was RM1.50 .

More recently , when the government offered to allocate RM100 million to private hospitals to help treat Covid-19 and non-Covid patients , a hospital association said the amount may not be enough . Again , should not this be part of their CSR to assist the government during the pandemic ?

And when health insurance companies substantially raised their premiums this year citing medical inflation , consumer groups strongly protested but to no avail .

We hope all local healthcare industry players would be more transparent and truthful when citing higher costs and raising prices . They should never sacrifice their moral duty at the altar of profits .