KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): The Health Ministry (MOH) has no plans to expand the implementation of extended hours (EH) at health clinics, the Senate was told on Monday.

Deputy Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni said that based on its implementation at several selected clinics, it did not solve the congestion problem, especially in the “green zone”.

“The presence of patients increased, even though we introduced extended hours. We found that the extended hours provide more opportunities for clients of the ministry to obtain services from our public health system.

“Therefore, we are still studying the suitability of the (EH) method to reduce congestion in the ‘green zone’, as we have facilities that have introduced short-stay units in the emergency zone areas,” he said during the question and answer session at the Dewan Negara.

He said this in response to a supplementary question from Senator Dr Lingeshwaran R Arunasalam, who wanted to know the impact of the implementation of EH at health clinics on congestion at the Emergency Department.

According to Lukanisman, EH was implemented in 2008 to alleviate congestion in the “green zone” of the Emergency and Trauma Department at the Health Ministry’s facilities in the country.

Currently, a total of 49 health clinics have adopted EH.

"Generally, EH operates from 5.00pm to 9.30pm on weekdays, and from 9.00am to 1pm on Saturdays,” he said.

In 2023, six health clinics, out of 49 clinics that implement EH, were selected for the Special Task Force on Agency Reform (STAR) pilot project, he said.

The clinics are the Bandar Botanik health clinic in Klang, the Ampang health clinic, the Taman Ehsan health clinic, the Kuala Lumpur health clinic, the Greentown health clinic in Perak, and the Mahmudian health clinic in Johor.

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