The hospital admissions and chemotherapy sessions alone cost him a whopping RM250,000. Having settled part of the payment with his savings, Ray used his credit cards to pay the rest of the bill.
He is aware that he could have taken his mother to a government hospital for treatment and paid only a fraction of the cost. But he was not willing to put her through the long waiting period at public hospitals.
"I wanted my mum to have the best medical care she could get, so, I took her to a well-known oncologist at an established private hospital even though I knew their fees were beyond my means." Ray has no regrets taking his mother to the private hospital as her condition has improved and she is now in remission.
"Though I am finding it a struggle to settle my credit card bills for the treatment, somehow I have to manage. I have been working overtime and trying to run a small business on the side to make ends meet," says the father of two, who admits that almost one-third of his salary goes to settling the credit card debt. Reeling from a couple of "bad experiences at government hospitals", Sharen* (not her real name) took her father out of one and admitted him into a private medical centre when he was diagnosed with a serious lung disease. The medical bills escalated as Sharen's father had to be frequently admitted over the next three years as his health deteriorated because of complications.
"It was tough as the bills were quite high because my father had an uncommon ailment and medication was expensive. "And there were always new procedures that the doctors needed to do to stop the disease from progressing so fast." The total bill came up to almost RM70,000. As her EPF savings was not enough to cover the cost of the treatments, Sharen turned to her credit cards to settle the balance. "I was paying almost RM2,000 a month to settle the amount with the credit card companies. I had some difficulty repaying the amount recently, so I took out a personal loan from a bank to settle part of the amount. Now, I am servicing two loans," she said. "It's true when they say that everything you touch in a private hospital costs money. You even pay for the tissues and cardboard spittoons." Ray and Sharen are among a growing number of Malaysians who have found themselves waist-deep in debt because of the increasing cost of private healthcare. According to the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK), the high cost of private healthcare contributed to the bulk of credit card debts and non-performing loans (NPL) as of last October. In an interview early this week, AKPK chief executive officer Mohamed Akwal Sultan said of the RM4.8 billion debts and NPL it was currently handling, 26 per cent was because of bills incurred for medical treatment at private hospitals. He said most of those who had been referred to the agency for debt management claimed that although it was beyond their means, they preferred to seek treatment at private hospitals because of the better quality of care and treatment. In light of claims that private hospitals are charging exorbitant fees and forcing patients to undergo "unnecessary" procedures, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has instructed Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican to meet with private hospital owners to discuss ways to curb the rising cost of private healthcare. Liow was reported to have said that the government would review the professional fees for doctors by year-end and later review private hospital charges. He said the ministry would also look at the kind of medication being dispensed by private hospitals and consumables such as tissues. The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia declined to comment pending the meeting with Health Ministry officials.
Read more: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/28credit/Article#ixzz16bCbDMeL
Save your saving to pay your medical bills. Use mine instead.
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