Surviving Private Practice In Malaysia

So you have decided to move to Private Practice. How are you going to persuade the public to consult you in preference to your colleagues? At medical school, you were never taught about the economics of medicine or marketing for patients. In fact talking about money in the medical field is abhorred. Having concentrated on working hard to become a specialist, you have never thought of how to survive in private practice. You are unaware of how you are going to market yourself when you move to private practice. When working in the public service, you work in a cocoon where there is always an overflow of patients. In private practice, you will have to compete for your patients. This is a topic often discussed by doctors but rarely penned down. Having worked in the private sector for 25 years, I will try to outline my thoughts on this topic.

One clause in that contract that has always bothered me is that I am not allowed to practice anywhere else unless I get prior approval from the management. I have always wondered about the unfairness of this clause. We are not allowed to practice elsewhere but the management can bring in anyone into the hospital without even informing us! Bringing in another specialist in my field would definitely eat into my patient load and thus lessen my earnings but I am not allowed to go out to practice elsewhere to supplement my income? This, I have always felt was unfair. In this podcast I will discuss this issue.

I left government service for Mahkota Medical Centre, Melaka in 1994 at the age of 34.

I was a young specialist at that time. Most of the pioneer doctors were off about the same age. Being in a brand new hospital, we worked very hard to build it. As time passes, more doctors joined the hospital. In 2019 we celebrated our 25th anniversary. I am now considered a senior Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist (although I still feel very young) in this hospital. Like most private hospitals in Malaysia, all specialists work as solo practitioners because most of the time we work alone with little involvement of our colleagues.

In order to survive in this kind of environment, I had to learn how to interact with all the resident specialists as well as the management of the hospital. Over the years I have gained much experience on how to build relationship with the various stakeholders of this hospital. Some of my experiences were good while others were not so pleasant. Somehow, even though these experiences are talked about casually among doctors, I think no one has actually written them down. So I decided to write down what I feel is important for a young specialist to know before joining a private hospital.

In this podcast I will be talking to Dato' Dr Alex Mathews, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Gleaneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He was my boss at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru when I started training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1988. I worked under him till 1994. All my initial skills in obstetrics and gynaecology is from him. He did not only teach me clinical skills but also taught me how to be a good doctor. After serving the government for 30 years her retired and joined the Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He  has been a private practitioner for the last 20 years. He was also the medical director or person in charge of the hospital for the last 8 year. So in this interview he will give us advice on being a doctor for more than 50 years.

This is the third part of the interview. In this interview I will be asking him about his experience working as a medical director and person inc harge of a practice hospital

In this podcast I will be talking to Dato Dr Alex Mathews, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Gleaneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He was my boss at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru when I started training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1988. I worked under him till 1994. All my initial skills in obstetrics and gynaecology is from him. He did not only teach me clinical skills but also taught me how to be a good doctor. After serving the government for 30 years her retired and joined the Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He  has been a private practitioner for the last 20 years. He was also the medical director or person in charge of the hospital for the last 8 year. So in this interview he will give us advice on being a doctor for more than 50 years.

This is the second part of the interview. In this interview I will be asking him about his experience working in the private practice for the last 20 years and what advice can he give to doctors who intend to move to private practice.

In this podcast I will be talking to Dato' Dr Alex Mathews, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Gleaneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He was my boss at the Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru when I started training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1988. I worked under him till 1994. All my initial skills in obstetrics and gynaecology is from him. He did not only teach me clinical skills but also taught me how to be a good doctor. After serving the government for 30 years he retired and joined the Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. He  has been a private practitioner for the last 20 years. He was also the medical director or person in charge of the hospital for the last 8 year. 

This interview is divided into 3 parts. In this first part I will ask him about his experience working in the government hospital for 30 years. I the second part I will talk to him about being a private practitioner for the last 20 years. In the third part I will ask him on his experience being a medical director and person in charge for the last 8 years.

In this part 2 of the interview with Dr Hoo Woon Ping, she will be explaining about her experience returning and working in private practice in Malaysia

There are 2 clinic systems in Private Hospitals in Malaysia. The first is that a doctor owns or rents a clinic from the hospital. Here the doctor is in full control of everything that is done in the clinic. The second is that the hospital provides the clinic for the doctor to use. In this podcast I will describe the advantages and disadvantages of both these systems

So if you have decided to go into private practice and are looking for a place to go into practice, these are your options.

In this podcast I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of this 4 options.