Health Ministry to increase ratio of beds in public hospitals - Dr Subramaniam

The health ministry is working to increase the ratio of hospital beds to the population from 1.92 in 2013 to 2.5 in 2030.

Minister, Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the government was optimistic of increasing access to health care in hospitals based on approaches which had been introduced previously, and more in the future.

"This includes upgrading existing hospitals by building additional blocks to accommodate the lack of services and insufficient number of beds, besides modifying existing spaces in hospitals that were unsuitable or outdated," he said in a written reply to Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas (PKR-Telok Kemang) that was distributed in the lobby of the Dewan Rakyat, Monday.

Kamarul Baharin had asked the health minister to state the ministry's efforts to overcome shortage of beds in public hospitals nationwide, as well as a list of hospitals facing such shortage.

Dr Subramaniam said to address the problem, the government planned to build new hospitals in high-density areas, either as replacement for existing hospitals with more comprehensive services or as an addition to the existing hospital, in line with plans to provide a complete set of services.

Other measures included optimising the use of hospitals without specialists, in which bed occupancy rates were still low by having scheduled visits by specialists, while for long-term planning, the ministry was studying a proposal to integrate health and medical services between public and private sectors.