Malaysia - Safe treatment plan for private hospitals

Citation

(2009), "Malaysia - Safe treatment plan for private hospitals", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 22 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2009.06222fab.005

Malaysia - Safe treatment plan for private hospitals

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 22, Issue 6

Keywords: Patient safety, Risk management, Medical education

The Health Ministry will implement a system this year to ensure that private hospitals give their patients safe treatment.

Director-General Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the “Incident Reporting and Learning System” would initially be conducted on a voluntary basis but it would later be mandatory under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act.

“We need to keep track of them. Right now, we do not know if a committee is formed to investigate in the event of a patient’s death,” he said.

He said the ministry was also developing an electronic version of the Patient Safety Incident Registry. Dr Ismail added that these were among the 12 initiatives outlined by the Patient Safety Council during a meeting early this year.

He said the initiatives were important to enhance patient safety in both public and private hospitals.

A study into 18 key areas of patient safety under the Ninth Malaysia Plan would be conducted while clinical “Risk Management Policies and Standards” and “Patient Safety Strategies” would be introduced this year with a set of National Patient Safety Goals.

Another highlight was the introduction of educational programmes on patient safety for final year medical students and consumers.

Infection control of hospital acquired diseases caused by the MRSA and ESBL Klebseilla bacterium would also be strengthened. Dr Ismail said the national “haemovigilance” programme would also be implemented in all government hospitals, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the National Heart Institute and five private hospitals.

“This is to monitor adverse transfusion events and ensure blood transfusion safety,” he said.

Patient safety indicators would also be included as part of the assessment for hospital accreditation by the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health.

As of January 1, 60 public hospitals and 20 private hospitals have received the accreditation from the society while 12 in the public sector and two in the private sector are being evaluated.

For more information: www.thestar.com.my