Wait List for Cardiothoracic Surgery up to 7 Months?

 

Health Minister said patients at government hospitals faced long wait times to undergo procedures such as coronary artery bypass graft or surgery to remove kidney stones.  A total of 2,293 patients are on a waiting list to undergo cardiothoracic surgeries in government hospitals, with some of them facing an average wait time of seven months. 

Meanwhile, there were 603 elective cases of paediatric cardiothoracic surgery, with the patients needing to wait an average of 21 months. This service is available in seven government hospitals that provide cardiothoracic surgeries. Pediatric cardiothoracic surgeries are in the meantime conducted by adult cardiothoracic specialists or referred to the National Heart Institute (IJN) because paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons are still being trained.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

Another 2,661 patients were waiting to undergo procedures to remove kidney stones, with each one expected to wait 11 months. The procedure is only provided by 13 public hospitals with resident urology surgeons. Another 9,233 patients are waiting to undergo cataract surgeries, with a waiting period of about three months, and 56 government hospitals provide this operation. 

To reduce the wait time for surgical procedures, the Health Ministry had placed more surgical specialists in hospitals without a resident specialist. It is also working to reduce wait times through public-private partnerships. 

For comparison, more than 163,000 people in England are enduring long waits, some of them in such poor health that doctors fear they will have a heart attack, stroke or die prematurely. The figure was 86,540 in February 2022 and 32,186 in February 2020, according to a Guardian analysis.

 

In another study, 52 hospitals in England had waiting times for general surgery procedures increase from 56 to 57 weeks. Waiting lists for most areas of medicine with comparable data have grown since the pandemic, but not by as much as cardiology. General surgery is up 30% since February 2020, ophthalmology is up 38%, neurology 68% and urology 70%. The heart care waiting list is up 75%.

 

Overall, we seem to better than the UK but that is no comfort for those waiting for a procedure. This is not a sudden increase but something we could have foreseen many years ago and got the pipeline activated for specialist doctors. The option of private-public partnership may suggest patients are directed to private hospitals with costs borne by the Ministry. Meanwhile, in Singapore the median waiting time for elective surgery in public hospitals is around 46 days (January 2025). How could they do it? Is it because Malaysian doctors are working hard in Singapore? 

References:

2,293 patients on wait list for cardiothoracic surgery, some up to 7 months, FMT Reports, 22 July 2025 

Number waiting over 18 weeks for NHS heart treatment in England rises fivefold, Andrew Gregory, Pamela Duncan and Pippa Crerar, 11 April 2024