Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM)s private ward will issue a Code of Ethics to prevent doctors from ignoring regular patients and paying greater attention to their private work.

According to Universiti Malayas Specialist Centre director Dr Mohd Salleh Mohd Sam today, conflicts of interest arise due to certain misplaced individual aspirations.

It can be a very competitive environment, but doctors are only supposed to do limited private practice [in the private ward], after 5pm.

And because the private ward is located in the same building as the non-private ones, some doctors may be seen to favour the private patients, he told malaysiakini .

Salleh said he has always been strict against this practice and has tried to ensure that private patients are met only after 5pm or during lunch break.

Despite this, he said there was a need for a Code of Ethics. These guidelines will make sure that doctors dont give too much emphasis to the private ward.

Yesterday, malaysiakini 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.

Meanwhile, Salleh said the first draft of the code was complete and will be issued to doctors in the next two months.

Disciplinary action

Asked what disciplinary action can be taken against doctors who breach the code, Salleh said, They could probably be suspended and not be allowed to practise [here].

However, the director acknowledged the difficulty of imposing any punishment on these doctors, as a suspension could lead to the doctor leaving the hospital all together.

I guess the best we can do would be to ensure that doctors do abide by the guidelines, he said.

On the allegation that consultants were poaching patients from public wards, Salleh said he had no evidence concerning the matter.

The director, however, added that he does not believe this happens.

Yesterday, parliamentary secretary for the Education Ministry Mahadzir Mohd Khir told Parliament that the private wing in the hospital was to keep  experts from running to private practices.

Commenting on this, Salleh said fewer doctors have left since the introduction of the private wing but added that most doctors who stayed on in PPUM, which is also a teaching hospital, did so because they love to teach.

DAP MP Teresa Kok in parliament yesterday had questioned the Education Ministry concerning PPUMs corporatisation and its medical treatment charges which were much higher than those in government hospitals.

Mahadzir denied that PPUM was corporatised and claimed that it was merely restructured, hence the private wing.

He also promised to look into PPUMs charges as these were not supposed to differ from those in government hospitals.