The Health Ministry spent RM248.97 million to outsource 93,495 heart patients to the National Heart Institute (IJN) between January and May 31 this year.

The ministry, in a written answer in Dewan Negara, which was uploaded on the Parliament’s website, said the treatment expenses involved heart patients from government employees, federal pensioners and poor patients.

“For 2023, the total number of heart patient visits at IJN stands at 233,885 and the government’s expenditure on treatment costs is RM606.52 million,” it said in the reply.

The ministry said this in response to a question by Senator Mustafa Musa who wanted to know the number of heart patients in the country and the total cost of medicine, treatment and specialist services for 2023 and this year.

Last year, the ministry spent RM316 million to cover the cost of procurement of medicines required for the treatment of heart disease while from January to June this year it was RM130 million.

Based on case mix data, the ministry said the average cost of treatment for heart patients (inpatients) at government hospitals from 2017 to 2020 is about RM5,072.05 per patient. The minimum cost is RM2,154.45 while the maximum is RM52,215.13.

Based on Health Information Centre data, 259,259 heart patients received inpatient treatment at government hospitals nationwide in 2023, another 641,590 patients received outpatient treatment, and 450,960 patients received treatment at health clinics.

In response to Senator Dr A Lingeshwaran’s question regarding the number of nurses and community nurses who resigned or retired from 2014 to 2023, the ministry said it involved 5,778 people.

This covers U29 Grade nurses (2,284), U32 Grade (2,102), Grade U36 (462) and Grade U41 to U54 (161). For community nurses, it includes Grade U24 and U26 (393) and Grade U19 (376).

The Senate sitting was adjourned this afternoon and will resume on Monday.

- Bernama