PETALING JAYA: Malaysia, like many other countries, has an inequality problem in terms of cancer care for its citizens, says health minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Cancer care services are concentrated in city centres and inaccessible to those in rural areas, he said in a message in conjunction with World Cancer Day 2022 today.
Khairy said the cost of such care is also unaffordable for those in the low-income group.
“At the moment, Malaysia only has 128 oncologists, with 36 of them at the health ministry, 14 in university hospitals and 78 in private hospitals. We have seven oncologists waiting to be certified as specialists.
“From 36 cancer treatment centres in the country, only six are under the ministry – Hospital Kuala Lumpur, the National Cancer Institute, Penang Hospital, Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor, Hospital Likas in Sabah, and Sarawak General Hospital.
“The remaining centres are in university hospitals (four) and in private hospitals (27),” he said.
Khairy said cancer patients from the east coast had to go to Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia or travel as far as Kuala Lumpur to receive their treatment.
For patients in the northern region, Penang Hospital has specialists, but not radiotherapy services, which were outsourced to private hospitals.
He said that besides radiotherapy and oncology services, rehabilitation services and palliative care were also inadequate.
Khairy acknowledged that the PeKa B40 scheme created to provide healthcare for the B40 community could not provide adequate cancer care for eligible patients, and called for healthcare reforms that encompass healthcare financing.
“Our healthcare financing, unfortunately, is not future-proof. This is why I proposed for a white paper in the hopes that it will be tabled in Parliament and supported by everyone,” he said. - FMT
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