Most of the doctors are concentrated in urban centres. So wealthier states, such as Johor, Penang and the Federal Territories, have “so-called sufficient doctors”, said Sharifa Ezat.
There is a “huge discrepancy”, meanwhile, in the ratio in states such as Sabah, Sarawak, Pahang and Kelantan, she cited.
The shortage of specialists in public hospitals is especially acute. According to the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, the specialist-to-population ratio is 4 to 10,000, whereas the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average was 14.3 to 10,000 in 2018.
Around 15 per cent of doctors in Malaysia’s public sector are specialists, which Singh said was low.
For example, there are only 14 cardiothoracic surgeons in public hospitals nationwide. They treat diseases affecting organs within the chest, mainly the heart and lungs.
“There’s a long waiting list for treatment of heart diseases in many public hospitals. But the urgent cases are prioritised,” said consultant cardiothoracic surgeon John Chan, who is in private practice at Cardiac Vascular Sentral (Kuala Lumpur).
“In that way, I think this situation is minimised. But of course, there’ll be patients who don’t make it while waiting for heart surgery.”
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