KUALA LUMPUR (June 18, 2012): The government has brushed off claims that it has imposed unreasonable requirements with the enforcement of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 2008.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said it was the St John Ambulance Malaysia (SJAM) which has not fulfilled the need for having ample doctors and visiting nephrologists.

“We have been asking them for years, to make up the ratio but they have not complied,” Liow said.

He stressed that the ministry stresses on the quality of service, adding that safety of patients is the ministry’s utmost priority.

The Selangor government organ, Selangor Times,recently reported that SJAM has threatened to surrender all their dialysis centres to the government after unreasonable requirements were imposed with enforcement of the act.

The requirements include compelling private haemodialysis centres to have at least 4.5 sq metre of space for each patient.

In addition, a dialysis centre’s water treatment room, reprocessing room and storeroom are required to be located separately from the dialysis room.
SJAM commander-in-chief Datuk Dr Low Bin Tick was quoted as saying it was unreasonable for the government to impose such requirements as its centres have limited space compared to private hospitals.

SJAM has 14 dialysis centres nationwide with some 500 patients.

Apart from the requirements, it was reported that SJAM has yet to receive the ministry’s approval to begin operations of their three new dialysis centres despite waiting for nearly a year.

The ministry reportedly has refused to issue an operating licence to SJAM’s fully furnished dialysis centres due to their failure to comply with the space requirements.

To this, Liow said that it was “not a problem”.

“They can (operate the centres) as long as they apply and fulfil the requirements, especially on the (number of) nurses because we need a (certain) number of nurses over the patients.

“(Also) every centre must have one doctor responsible for the patient. The (SJAM) centres don’t have visiting nephrologists,” said Liow.

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