The healthcare component in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) announced today was underwhelming despite the many lessons learned during the country's almost two-year struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic, said the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy.
"Considering what the country and people went through over the past 18 months, sacrifices made by thousands of frontline health and non-health essential workers, the many strengths and gaps identified, and the hard-won lessons from the Covid-19 response, the health component of the 12MP feels a bit underwhelming," said Galen Centre chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib (above).
Azrul added that he was surprised by yet another study being conducted on healthcare reform, noting that there were already several such studies in the last 20 years.
"We have done at least half a dozen studies over the past two decades, looking at the same issue of national healthcare reforms.
"The latest one was done in 2016 which was commissioned by the Health Ministry and conducted by the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health. Let us not continuously reinvent the wheel," he said in a statement.
Azrul said based on the Harvard report, many reforms can already be implemented immediately.
"What is needed are courage and political will to implement the recommendations from that study," he added.
Azrul said even though the 12MP acknowledged gaps in the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, it was barely addressed beyond increasing awareness and screening.
"Before the Covid-19 crisis hit, Malaysia was already going through a national crisis of NCDs. Half of the adult population are either overweight or obese.
"Data from 2012-2016 found that nearly 30 percent more Malaysians died from cancer during that period, and 3.9 million aged 18 and above are currently suffering from diabetes.
"Increasingly more people are being diagnosed with these conditions at later stages, especially after the disruption caused by the coronavirus," he said.
Azrul said if the country does not commit to a national increase in investment to effectively treat and care for these diseases more patients will die due to suboptimal care.
"The urgency to combat NCDs goes beyond the health sector and requires multisectoral effort. We will be living with this problem for decades to come.
"There should have been a stronger emphasis on dealing with the NCD crisis," he said.
However, Azrul backed the government's plan to have people who can afford to pay more for healthcare at government hospitals so that underprivileged communities can be subsidised.
"The current situation is not sustainable. However, I believe that the government should have also announced its intent to introduce a compulsory national insurance scheme that would spread risk, pool revenues and risk, improve treatment options and provide sustainability during times of crisis.
"That would have been a true game-changer," he said.
Lack of focus on human resource
Azrul said it was also odd that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced a Malaysia Institute of Infectious Disease but it was not stated in the 12MP.
"Rather than construct yet another new building, the millions in funding should go towards the support of the National Institutes of Health under the Health Ministry, specifically the research work of the Institute for Medical Research and the Institute for Public Health, which already houses the Centre for Communicable Diseases Research.
"The renewed and intense interest and commitment in infectious diseases is great and welcomed, but we should really use that money to strengthen the capacity of our existing institutions by recruiting the best and brightest people and researchers in infectious diseases," he said.
Azrul added that another notable gap was in recognition of human resource challenges in the healthcare system, such as the problems faced by contract doctors and the retention of specialists and experts in the public sector.
"Unless the government reviews what it proposes in the health section of the 12MP, this could be a lost opportunity to rebuild, reform and transform our health system into a service that is fit for purpose and future-proofed to meet the challenges of a population facing rising health burdens due to an ongoing crisis of non-communicable diseases, an ageing population, and demands for better quality healthcare. It will also help us prepare for the next pandemic," he said. - Mkini
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