Saving costs instead of lives

By: By Llew-Ann Phang (Dec 12, 2010) 

PETALING JAYA (Dec 12, 2010): Budgetary issues are the biggest stumbling block to saving lives.

During housemanship at government hospitals, doctors are repeatedly told that they have to be careful with money and save costs, rather than lives.

Because of this, doctors have to stinge on life-saving treatment sometimes, claim doctors who spoke to theSun on condition of anonymity.

“Even oncologists may not prescribe drugs that could reduce the size of cancerous tumours (due to the cost factor),” said a government physician.

If an oncologist prescribes drugs such Herceptin (for breast cancer treatment) and Avastin (for colon cancer) – which are often acquired at exorbitant costs – patients would have to fork out their life-savings to to pay for the treatment.

Often, civil servants are found emptying their pockets, re-mortgaging their houses and breaking their backs to front up money for cancer treatment before they are reimbursed by the Public Services Department (PSD) -- months later.

Often, oncologists who stay long enough in government hospitals find themselves following bureaucracy and wasting a lot of time trying to obtain aid for patients who cannot afford medication.

“We are wasting a lot of time going through forms and answering telephone calls asking if we have drugs, and writing to charities,” said one doctor.

Chemotherapy, which costs between RM4,000 and RM5,000 for a  three-week course of treatment with older drugs, can cost up to RM25,000 with new medicines.

 “There are a handful of drugs that increase the chance of survival of cancel patients but at the moment patients do not have access to them.

“While we are on track to achieving the developed nation status where infrastructure is concerned, we are doing very poorly in the health department, even on the doctor-to-patient ratio,” lamented a semi-government hospital source.

There are only 60 oncologists in Malaysia serving an ever-increasing number of cancer patients.

The National Cancer Registry recorded 21,773 individuals at the last count but medical practitioners believe the real figures are close to double the number.

“The allocations for health run out very quickly and there is no ready access to money, especially for patients who are in dire need of medication.

“People are reluctant to ask. We don’t have strong lobby groups to push for money because most people are afraid to speak up,” said one doctor.

Practitioners say political will is need for the ministry to take a more “creative” approach to help both patients and the medical fraternity.

“Where patients are concerned, an independent body can be set up to assess patients' financial background so that they can pay whatever they can afford, thus freeing up money for patients who really are in need of a chance to have a longer life,” said the doctor.

Met recently, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said healthcare accounts for RM11 billion of the annual budget but admitted that at times red tape takes over from common sense.

“My stand has always been 'do anything to save a life',” Liow said, adding that he is looking into the problem. -- theSun

Credit Transfers

We have had a few questions from students on pre tertiary credit transfers. We hope this guide clears some of the smog surrounding your opportunities.

There are many pre tertiary programmes for students who finish their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia [SPM] examinations. Its quite an alphabet soup with A's, SAM, AUSMAT, CPU and STPM's. A Levels are generally from the English pedigree with Cambridge [CIE] and the London Boards [Edexcel]. SAM and AUSMAT are the Australian pre tertiary pathway. CPU is Canadian while locally we have STPM and Matriculations for government Universities. Alas there is the effervescent foundation which in our case is accepted in the United Kingdom, Australia and many other countries; Malaysia included.

According to the Malaysian Qualifications Agency [MQA] these pre tertiary programmes are equivalent for entry qualifications to degree programmes. Thus students who study A Levels have broadly the same opportunities of entering a degree programme as students who have done STPM or Foundation. There are certainly some universities that stipulate their own individual recognitions but broadly they are equal, though we opine that the specialization afforded for the foundations make it just a notch ahead; primus inter pares if you will.

Following this logic a student who is studying the A Levels and would like to improve his/her mark or re-sit an exam can do so with SAM or a Foundation. The mapping of the syllabus for the foundation for example accords to the other pre tertiary programmes allowing students to fit nicely even though they had done other programmes. This is easier in the sciences where there are finite parameters, biology has to be biology anywhere and anyhow.

What is important is that a students complete the required credit hours that are stipulated. You can check this with us for your individual programmes.

Students thus with other pre tertiary results can look to the foundation as an alternative to retaking or re-siting their exams. This may be advantageous from the point of view of our exam time tables rather than waiting and wasting time. Another reason may be a fresh experience to counter the reasons for your challenges in other programmes. We find that often its never the programmes at fault but rather whether a student can sync to the system and structure of a programme. Its always a question of suitability. We also find that many students choose us due to our clear pathway to seats at Universities and our focus in preparing students for First Year.

So if you choose a pre tertiary and you are having trouble with it, remember that you are not stuck and you can opt for a change to better suit your academic preferences.