SUBANG: Malaysia needs about 3,000 family medicine specialists to be placed at government clinics and public hospitals in a bid to improve primary care services and patients’ health care quality.
Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said at present there were only about 500 family medicine specialists to cater to 3,212 patients at various government clinics nationwide.
“We’re still lacking in terms of specialists as we only have about 500 family medicine specialists. The figure is considered small compared to the current needs.
“So we are looking at ways to increase the number of specialists and at the same time upgrade the quality of care,” he told reporters after launching the 19th Family Medicine Conference 2016 here today.
Dr Noor Hisham said of the total 500 specialists, 308 family medicine specialists attend to patients at 966 health clinics, 100 mother and child clinics, 340 1Malaysia clinics and 1,806 clinics at rural areas.
The remaining 120 experts were currently serving as lecturers in the field of family medicine, six specialists at public universities, four at the Defence Ministry and 70 others at private practice.