Hey, peeps! Wassab? Geddit? What’s Sab?? Ok nvm.
Today is a bittttt special because this time last year I was diagnosed with… LUPUS! (Y-a-y!)
While most peeps won’t be celebrating their sickness, I will and today I will be talking about…
… hospitals (it’s fees and why is it liddat)! Welcome to #sablupusjourney
After a year living with lupus and meeting various peeps (some with lupus too), I have been bombarded with many different questions about the illness and treatment. No, I’m not ranting about how much questions I’ve been bombarded with but how I noticed a pattern in these questions.
And the most common question I have been receiving is on where I get my treatment at.
Just in case you’re new to #sablupusjourney or if you’ve only been reading my stuff here (and not the stuff I wrote on my working site), you may not know where I get my treatments from. Today, I’ll be giving you the answer and why I still choose to remain there.
Every time I get the “Which hospital did you go to?”, I’ll always get nervous to give an answer. It’s because I can’t tell how people would react to my answer. Will they go:
“Oh, isn’t it expensive?”
“Why you go there? There’s a cheaper alternative what?”
“Aiyo, stupid ke go there. This is a lifelong disease kot!”
“Wah, so atas ah you (Wah, you’re so rich)!”
And that’s because I go to a private hospital. Not just any private hospital but probably one of the best and most atas hospital in KL.
Butttt I got my own reason la. Here’s why.
1. My mother used to be treated at this hospital
“Okay, so what if your mother used to get her treatments there?”
Well, that’s cos it affected the whole story!
When I went through several misdiagnoses for over a year, my mother urged my father to insist the doctor to refer me to a specialist. And she specifically requested this particular private hospital I currently get my treatment at. Let’s just name this hospital as Hospital P.
Anyway, this is because, back in 2015, she had a slip disc. After going to several hospitals and met specialists who scared her off with the idea of putting in a huge ass screw in her backbone, she finally met a specialist who said that that scary procedure wasn’t necessary at Hospital P. So, she agreed to undergo an operation that saved her life (she was almost paralysed and could be in grave danger).
Having experienced being hospitalised in Hospital P, she then decided that if her children needed to be hospitalised or get their treatment at a hospital, then Hospital P is a good place to do so. But, ofcos, at a very *coughs* high price *coughs*.
Tbh, I wouldn’t be able to pay for my own treatment if it weren’t for my father.
Fast forward to this year where I met my fellow SLE (lupus) community, they suggested that I just change to a public hospital. Well, that’s possible but…
2. Going to a public hospital doesn’t make any difference for patients like me
And it’s not cos I’m special or whatever.
Sometime last year, I was supposed to write an article about how prices in public and private hospital differs. It was based on a case where cancer patients from a private hospital was allegedly overcharged after transferring to a public hospital. Two patients claimed that they have been charged RM400-RM700 just for their medicine!
Woah, wait. Don’t public hospitals only charge patients like… RM5 (at most) per visit?
Well, supposedly. After making a brief research (spoiler: I ended up not writing the story cos my initial focus was on something else) including inquiring a public hospital to ask how much I had to pay to get myself transferred to their hospital.
“The registration fees would cost RM30 while follow-up charges cost RM5. This is only the general cost. I can’t specifically give you the total cost as it depends on the treatment you have to go through.” – Govt hospital staff told me.
Hold up, lemme give a brief explanation.
There are different charges in public hospitals in Malaysia and it differs according to which class you’re in. It also differs if you’re a foreigner but I’ll just briefly put the price below so that y’all can see the difference.
According to a relative who is a doctor, I found out that patients from private hospitals who are referred to public hospitals will be categorised and charged as first class patients.
So, when patients from private hospitals transfer to a public hospital, they (or we since it also applies to me) may have to pay more than those who already had their treatment in public hospitals since day 1. And the reason being it was stated in the law for the longest time.
Yea, some of you may think how this is unfair while some may think duhh ugaiz can afford it anyway but put it this way. Why would patients from private hospitals would wanna transfer to a public hospital anyway? Because they can’t afford it! DUHH?
But if going to a public hospital means forking out MORE money than remaining at a private hospital, then why would patients even wanna transfer to a public hospital, right?
3. I do not wanna be treated by a different doctor
If you personally know me, you may know that I have trust issues. Yea, it’s not easy for me to trust just anyone.
So, when I first started getting my treatments with the doctor who diagnosed me with lupus, I had put my trust on her. Therefore, heck no! I’m not gonna go elsewhere just to be treated by another doctor.
Thankfully, she has a personal clinic at a private wing of a University Hospital. But here’s the thing. University Hospitals aren’t the same with public hospitals so the charges there are a bit expensive but not as expensive as Hospital P. Also, since my doctor’s clinic is under the private wing of the hospital, then the charges may be more.
Despite the cost of treatment, my doctor told me (a number of times) that it is possible to be transferred to that hospital. It may cost me a whole lot less there than the cost we are currently paying at Hospital P.
Tbh, I have been thinking about this for a while since I am not expecting my father to pay my medical fees on my behalf forever.
Also, this is because lupus patients don’t have a special insurance program offered like the ones for cancer. And this is also cos I don’t earn much to afford asspensive medical fees.
With this, I hope those of y’all who have been asking or who want to ask me questions related to where I get my treatment from would understand why I go to Hospital P instead of any other hospitals.
I also hope that with my explanation, most peeps will realise that it’s not THAT easy to just hop from a private hospital to a public one and vice versa (unless you have MONEH).
I guess that’s all from me. Til next time on #sablupusjourney! If you have any questions about my treatment, how much it cost or anything at all, do lemme know in the comment section below. 😉
Sabrina Noor 
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