MOH to settle 4,833 backlog cases soon - Khairy

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry (MOH) will settle the remaining 4,833 cases of non-COVID-19 backlogs at government hospitals soon, said its minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the backlog cases as of July 31 only involved surgical procedures from the disciplines of paediatric and cardiothoracic surgery.

"MOH will continue to strive to improve health services for all Malaysian families," he said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Khairy said the MOH has successfully resolved 92 per cent of the 57,355 backlogs of non-COVID-19 treatment cases recorded at the government hospitals across the country up to September 2021.

Of the total backlog cases, he said 53,785 cases were surgical-based, and 3,570 were medical-based cases.

Surgical-based cases include general surgery, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery, urology, gynaecology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology, while medical-based cases include sleep study, lung function tests, stem cell procedures, radiotherapy, CT simulation, and coronary angiography.

Khairy said among the initiatives implemented by the ministry to deal with backlog cases was outsourcing patients from MOH facilities to private hospitals.

Other initiatives were reopening elective surgery theatres at MOH hospitals in stages starting in October last year and conducting elective surgeries from 8 am to 5 pm on Saturdays in specialist hospitals across the country since December last year.

-- BERNAMA