Patients who choose to be treated in the private ward of Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) help to shorten the waiting time in the public ward rather than lengthening it, said PPUM director Prof Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin.

"The long waiting time in the public ward is due mainly to the heavy patient load ... in 2001, we had 492,623 patients compared with 475,229 in 1999.

"If more people decided to go for treatment in the private ward, otherwise known as Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC), this will help lighten the burden on PPUM," said Amin in an interview with malaysiakini yesterday.

Also present during the interview in PPUM's premises in Petaling Jaya were deputy director Prof Dr Chua Chin Teong and UMSC's finance and administration manager Maisarah Abdul Rahman.

Formerly known as University Hospital, PPUM and its private wing were set up a year ago.

The medical centre came under fire in Parliament recently when the opposition asked why it had been corporatised, to which the government replied it was merely "restructured".

Malaysiakini then reported that the private wing was being misused by consultants who were doing private work during office hours, while poorer patients at the non-private ward were forced to wait.

However, Amin stressed that doctors are only allowed "limited private practice", and that they could operate their clinics and attend to outpatients only after office hours and on a rotational basis.

"Only non-critical patients are admitted in the Specialist Centre," added Amin, who is also the dean of Universiti Malaya's Faculty of Medicine.

'Dynamic' code of conduct

When asked about the regulatory measures imposed to prevent abuse of the private practice programme in the medical centre, both Amin and Chua said that there was a "dynamic" PPUM code of conduct in place, which is "always subject to change".

"Moreover, we have issued repeated warnings to doctors when any misconduct is made known, and we have taken corrective actions, such as suspensions, depending on the severity of the offence," Chua said.

He also added that the centre has a good system of monitoring as more than half of the doctors are not involved in private practice.

"So if the colleagues find out that something is not right, they will report it.

"For the rest of the staff, we have given clear instructions to nurses not to coerce patients to go for treatment in the private ward," said Chua.

Amin said a practice booklet is being compiled to act as a guide for doctors.

Amin added that if the private practice programme was implemented properly, the question of taxpayers' money being wasted would not arise as government-owned machinery, normally idle after office hours, could be utilised to the full.

As to the effectiveness of the private ward in reducing the 'brain drain' of doctors in the public sector, he said that "macroscopically, the number of senior doctors leaving the profession had been reduced" but could not give concrete figures detailing the actual effects.