White paper will be issued on more funds for public healthcare, says KJ

 

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin says inadequate allocations led to poor services in the trauma and emergency care units, and clinics at government hospitals.

KUALA LUMPUR: A white paper on healthcare reforms will be tabled in November, says health minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Responding to a question by Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera), Khairy said this will ensure proper allocations for public healthcare.

He said there had been a “chronic underinvestment” in the public healthcare system.

He stated that only 2.8% of its gross domestic product (GDP) was spent on public healthcare in 2020 compared to 4% of GDP in other countries in the same medium-high income category as Malaysia.

This lack of investment had affected the quality of care in government hospitals and this had been highlighted in the 2018 Auditor-General’s report, he said.

Khairy said the health ministry had to tackle the lack of staff, overcrowding due to a high number of patients and lack of medical devices. These had led to poor services in the trauma and emergency care units and clinics at government hospitals.

“Therefore, this issue of proper funding will be given the utmost priority in the white paper,” he said.

Answering an additional question from Steven Choong (PBM-Tebrau), Khairy was confident the white paper will get bipartisan support from all MPs to make it “future proof” so that the reforms outlined can be carried out despite any changes of ministers or government. - FMT