Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah stressed that there have been no reductions “in terms of expenditure” to the Health Ministry in Budget 2021.
“I am not an expert in terms of expenditure, the (ministry) secretary-general and the explanation is very clear, so there is no decrease in terms of expenditure, there is actually an increase of 4.3 percent from RM30.6 billion to RM31.94 billion.
“We were told there is no reduction in terms of expenditure. Obviously, we are focusing mainly on the expenditure for Covid-19 and on top of the RM31.94 billion, we also have an additional RM3 billion parked in other ministries for the vaccine,” Noor Hisham said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.
However, he added that if there is a need for more government funding, the Health Ministry can always seek it during the midterm reviews.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s focus for the next few months, he said, will be on the Covid-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases.
“But having said that, we also need to focus on non-communicable diseases.
“Non-communicable diseases are also important,” he added.
Previously, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had denied claims that public health allocations had been reduced under Budget 2021 compared to last year.
Zafrul had explained that no area of healthcare allocation had been reduced, adding that it was only a matter of some items being reclassified under the federal estimated expenditure document. - Mkini
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