People cannot afford higher medical bills

Let's take the case of a 40-year-old Ipoh resident who has just suffered a heart attack. If he is a government servant or the spouse of one, then he will be referred to the IJN or to University Hospital within a month where he will be assessed, put up for angiography and further treatment if that is found necessary, and all this will be for free – the government will pick up the bill.

If he is not a government servant, but has an income in excess of RM10,000 a month, or a comprehensive health insurance cover, he has the option of seeing one of the four interventional cardiologists in the private sector in Ipoh where the going rate for coronary angiography is RM4000, angio-plasty is RM8000, angioplasty with stenting is about RM15,000, and by-pass surgery is in the region of RM30,000.

Full article by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj in Aliran Monthly.