The chief executive of the country’s largest private hospital operator says more than a dozen health centres run by competitors have shut in the past year, warning other services will close without more funding from insurers and the government.

In a frank assessment on Thursday, after Ramsay Health Care posted a slide in earnings for the six months to December 31, Craig McNally said the system would “break down” if reimbursements did not keep up with wages and higher medical supply costs.