Title: Privatization of Facility Management in Public Hospitals
Author: Fan Hong Poh
Publisher: Book-Art Press Solutions, LLC
ISBN: 1951306589
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 204
Reviewed by: Aaron Washington

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In Privatization of Facility Management in Public Hospitals, author Fan Hong Poh extensively writes about the Hospital Support Service (HSS) which was privatized to three concessionaire companies in Malaysia. The project took place between 1996 and 2011. Fan Hong broadly expounds on this project, explaining in detail the reasons for the project, the challenges stakeholders faced the positives and negatives of the projects, and the lessons learned at the end of it. Fan Hong Poh writes using a reasonable tone. The text in the book is professional and his thoughts on the various topics discussed objectively. What I liked in his writing was that the book is rational even when criticizing concepts. Fan Hong Poh understands how crucial healthcare is and when explaining his points, uses language that is not at all insensitive to those who may disagree with his line of thinking.

To understand how the Malaysian healthcare system works, one needs to read this book. Fan Hong Poh is open about the Malaysian ministry of health practices, government bureaucracy, and the happenings in the health ministry. Fan Hong used the Hospital Support Service (HSS) as an example to show just how much goes on in the health ministry and public institutions. The discussions in the book are necessary. The author may have used Malaysia as an example, but he has valid advice on how to better the healthcare system in different countries. By being part of the system, the author highlighted the mis-steps and the blunders that the ministry and shareholders caused.  Fan Hong Poh is both factual and impartial. The advice he gives is practical and can be useful to many stakeholders in the health care industry.

I applaud the author for the brief history at the beginning of the book and the project overview. Chapter one was one of my favorite chapters as the author ensured that readers who were unfamiliar with what Hospital Support Service (HSS) was had an idea of the project and its design. Another favorite chapter in the book was chapter three. In this chapter, Fan Hong Poh gets technical, giving all the details one would need to understand the process that went into engineering and actualization of the project. Every discussion from the Facilities Engineering Maintenance Services (FEMS) to Clinical Waste Management Services (CWMS) was useful to readers that wanted details.

The conclusion of the book was just as interesting to read as the first chapter. By the end of the reading, one would get to fully understand what Hospital Support Service (HSS) was, the advantages of the project, limitations, and how everyone involved was affected. The author’s experience as a monitoring consultant was of value as he was able to piece together significant material about HSS in the book.

This book is for everyone who values the health sector, has invested in their health, and wants pointers on how to run a project similar to HSS. The author also has sound advice on consultancy, teamwork, and how government entities work. The biggest lesson in this valuable book is for a country to fully function, the health of its citizens should be prioritized.