DayangAnita AbdAziz

LIAM CEO Mark O'Dell received a 13-page hospital bill of RM18,837.55 for a minor hernia procedure at a private hospital in KL. The life insurance expert said he didn't understand some of the line items, calling for private hospital charges to be regulated. The bill included charges for 95 line items across 13 different categories totaling RM18,837.57 (the final bill was rounded up to RM18,837.55): 1. Consignment supplies: RM3,189 2. Equipment/instrumentation: RM3,850.30 3. Gases supply: RM61.19 4. Imaging: RM77 5. Laboratory investigation: RM120.70 6. Medical and surgical supplies: RM2,105.60 7. Medication: RM2,606.68 8. Miscellaneous: RM158.50 9. Nursing care: RM139.50 10. Nursing procedure: RM27.70 11. Operating theatre: RM1,372.40 12. Room and board: RM2,508 13. Doctors’ charges: RM2,621 Read more: codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

LIAM CEO Mark O'Dell was stunned by his 13-page hospital bill of ~RM19,000 for a minor hernia surgery at a KL private hospital, saying he didn't understand some line items. O'Dell suggests regulating private hospital charges with Diagnostic Related Groups. codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

Updates on Malaysia's Unprecedented Human Insulin Shortage Crisis: 🔴MOH's Pharmacy Services Programme held a virtual emergency meeting last night with ~500 ministry staff nationwide. 🔴Health DG Dr Radzi issued a circular yesterday, listing patient groups who will start human insulin and those who will be switched from human insulin treatment to more expensive diabetes drugs: SGLT2 inhibitors and insulin analog. Priority groups for insulin naive patients to begin insulin treatment: 1⃣ Type 1 diabetes patients 2⃣ Pregnant women 3⃣ Patients with serious kidney failure Diabetes patients with one daily basal insulin injection, who have an HbA1c reading of less than 8.5%, will be converted from human insulin treatment to SGLT2 inhibitors. Additional SGLT2 inhibitors will be given to diabetes patients with high human insulin dosage (more than 1 unit/kg daily) to reduce (de-intensify) human insulin usage, with the condition that their HbA1c reading is less than 10%, besides having the risk of a cardiovascular event, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, and/or kidney failure. Priority groups for conversion from human insulin treatment to insulin analog: 1⃣ Elderly patients (aged 70 years and above; HbA1c reading of more than 8.5%; and/or comorbidities like hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, hypercholesterolemia; and/or risk of heart complications, and/or kidney complications 2⃣ Patients at high risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) 3⃣ Type 1 diabetes patients 4⃣ Pregnant women 5⃣ Patients with serious kidney failure "Patients’ current oral therapies must be optimised and referred to specialist doctors first before changing their treatment regimen, including starting insulin treatment (insulin initiation) or changing insulin dosage (insulin intensification or de-intensification)," Dr Radzi said in his circular. "However, these criteria will not replace clinical considerations in treating each individual patient. Therefore, treatment must be tailored according to each patient’s circumstance." The Health DG's circular acknowledged disruption of the country's human insulin supply due to "manufacturing capacity problems" with Malaysia's sole local insulin manufacturer. India's Biocon Biologics operates an insulin manufacturing plant in Johor. MOH's supply of human insulin is predominantly procured from Biocon Biologics at 80%, while the remaining 20% is supplied by Denmark's Novo Nordisk. Dr Radzi also blamed "global" shortages, even though there are no news reports on worldwide supply disruptions of the lifesaving diabetes medication. Only an insulin shortage in the US was reported last May, while South Africa ran out of human insulin pens supplied by Novo Nordisk, reported last June. Both were linked to pharmaceutical giants shifting production priorities to blockbuster weight-loss drugs. Besides alternative diabetes treatments, the Health DG said the MOH is also identifying a new manufacturer as an alternative source of human insulin supply. This indicates the unprecedented scale of Malaysia's current insulin shortage, unlike short-term supply disruptions in previous years. codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

Government Must Pay For Patients To Get Insulin From University Hospitals, Private Facilities Amid MOH Shortage: Lawmakers codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

On the insulin shortage crisis, Galen Centre asks if there were problems with APIs in local insulin production, how much of the insulin production in Malaysia was meant for export, and if there were quality concerns with insulin produced for local supply. codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

Malaysians have condemned JKN Sarawak’s “attack” on a woman medical officer who complained that her husband (an MO in a Klinik Kesihatan) was forced to bring their 8-month-old baby with chickenpox to work. MOH said quarantine leave can be taken “in turns”. codeblue.galencentre.org/202…

Amid a doctors' shortage, inpatient admissions in HOSHAS medical unit wards jumped 86% in one year to over 16,000 in 2023; inpatient deaths almost doubled to nearly 1,500. Comparing 2023 to pre-pandemic 2019, admissions rose 44% and deaths spiked 125%. codeblue.galencentre.org/202…