Surviving Private Practice In Malaysia

In this episode I will be speaking to Dr Naveen Rajadurai, Consultant Radiologist and subspecialist in Musculoskeletal Radiology at Damansara Specialist Hospital. The KPJ university also runs a Masters in Radiology programme and Dr Naveen is a teacher and trainer of Master Students in Radiology

This is part 2 of the interview with Dr Ho Hon Lian Consultant ENT specialist at Ampang Puteri Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. In this second part, I will be asking him what happens after he has passed his Masters exam and how he obtained his NSR and became a consultant ENT specialist at Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital.

We know that many junior contract doctors will be out of job soon. Many of them who want to become specialist have to find alternative ways to get training. I believe that the private sector can also take on this challenge of training specialist in private hospitals.

In this Podcas, I will be talking to Dr. Ho Hon Lin Consultant ENT at Ampang Puteri Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Dr Ho was trained to be an ENT specialist in private hospitals owned by the KPJ group. This podcast is divided into 2 parts. In this part 1, I will be asking Dr. Ho about his training to become a specialist in private hospitals. In the second part I will be asking him what happens after he has passed his Masters exam and how he became a consultant.

Dr. HM Goh started his career as a medical doctor. Then he transitioned to an informatics expert. Later he moved to health care management and now he is a health care investor working with a private equity. In part 1 he described how he transitioned from a medical doctor to his current job as a health care investor. In this part he will be giving advise to young doctors who want to pursue an alternative path to health care management. He will also talk about the future of private practice in Malaysia.

In this podcast I will be interviewing Dr. HM Goh. Dr. HM Goh started his career as a medical doctor. Then he transitioned to an informatics expert. Later he moved to health care management and now he is a health care investor working with a private equity. This podcast is divided into 2 parts. In this part 1 he will describe how he transitioned from a medical doctor to his current job as a health care investor. In Part 2 of this interview Dr HM Goh will be giving advise to young doctors who want to pursue an alternative path of health care management. He will also be giving his view on the future of private practice in Malaysia.

There is an unseen bond between pharmaceutical companies and doctors. Pharmaceutical companies need the doctors to promote their products and doctors need the financial assistance and marketing capabilities of pharmaceutical companies. The Malaysian Medical Council has a specific guideline entitled “Relationship between doctors and the Pharmaceutical industry” (MMC guideline 007/2006), which aims to ensure, that doctors be as ethical as possible when dealing with pharmaceutical companies. In this podcast, I will describe my experience with the pharmaceutical companies and I will give some advice to young specialist moving to private practice.

There are many situations in which you will need assistance from your colleagues or a specialist from another specialty. When and how to get assistance can be tricky. There will be situations where a colleague will ask you for assistance. You will have to decide whether you want to provide that assistance and the consequences that follow. I will discuss my experience in this area.

You are a government doctor and you want to move to the private sector. In the government service you get a fixed salary. You do not charge for your work that you do. In the private sector, you earn a living by charging a fee for your service. One decision you will have to make is when are you going to waive your fees or give a discount. Are you going to charge your colleagues, other doctors and the staff at your hospital? This issue is rarely discussed among doctors in Malaysia. In this podcast I will explain my experience having worked in a private hospital for more than 25 years. This I hope, will give you some insight on the decisions you will need to make when you move to the private practice.

As a practicing private practitioner, I will divide specialists in private practice into 2 categories and I will call them frontline specialists and supportive specialists. Let me explain further.

A frontline specialist is a specialist who has direct contact with patients. These are the specialists whom patients look for to seek treatment. Examples of these specialities are: Medicine and its subspecialities (general medicine, cardiologist, endocrinologists, rheumatologists etc), Paediatrics, Surgery and its subspecialties, Orthopaedic surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology. ENT specialists, Ophthalmologists etc.

Supportive specialists are those who support the frontline specialists. Patients don't seek them out. Examples of these specialities are Anaesthesiologists, Pathologist and Radiologist.

In this podcast I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these two different categories.

When I first decided to move to private practice, I applied to a well-known private hospital in Johor Bahru. My application was turned down, as I was considered “not marketable”. This had nothing to do with my skills or ability to work very hard. The decision was just based on my physical characteristics, namely being a male, Indian gynaecologist. I had to do more to attract the patients away from my female Chinese or Malay colleagues who will be the first choice for a woman requiring the service of an obstetrician and gynaecologist.  In this podcast I will examine all these physical factors namely race, religion, language, looks, age, gender and personality that may play a role in attracting patients to your practice.