78pct of Madani Medical Scheme allocation has been used: Minister

 

PARLIAMENT | Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad revealed that as of today, the Madani Medical Scheme has used RM78.73 million of its RM100 million allocation.

He said this when explaining the recent decision to downscale the scheme’s scope from being carried out nationwide to only 10 districts.

Dzulkefly (above) told the Dewan Rakyat that the government had been spending RM1.7 million weekly in maintaining the programme expenses, totalling RM12 to RM15 million in weekly expenses.

“There is a balance of RM16.2 million. The budget expenditure is expected to run out by April,” he said

The minister did not provide a breakdown of these expenses.

Dzulkelfy was responding to a question by Alias Razak (PN-Kuala Nerus) who asked for the government’s justification for only offering the scheme in 10 designated districts.

Pilot programme

The scheme was launched as a pilot programme on June 15, 2023 in 10 districts - Kuala Lumpur, Gombak, Hulu Langat, Petaling Jaya, and Klang in Selangor.

It also included districts in other states such as Johor Bahru (Johor), Kinta (Perak), Timur Laut (Penang), Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), and Kuching (Sarawak).

Kuala Nerus MP Alias Razak

In August 2023, the scheme was extended to 11 other districts located in Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, and Perlis.

However, ProtectHealth Corporation - which is helmed by the Health Ministry - announced that it would reduce the scheme to its original 10 districts.

In a supplementary question, Alias lamented that four of the districts were located in urban areas such as Selangor, instead of rural areas, such as his constituency in Terengganu, which lacked local clinics.

In response, Dzulkefly said he would consider targeting states that required more assistance.

[More to follow] - Mkini