The ministry’s recent healthcare measures under the RESET strategic banner form part of a long-term reform push to ease pressure on public healthcare.
Most of its reform initiatives fall under the RESET strategic banner, which includes MediAsas, its upcoming basic medical and health insurance/takaful plan; diagnosis-related group financing; alternative service delivery models such as outsourcing and public-private partnerships; and inter-ministry collaboration.
Health deputy director-general Dr Azman Yacob described RESET and MediAsas as part of the ministry’s push to bridge the gap between public and private healthcare.
“Healthcare transformation is a long-term process that cannot be addressed by the health ministry alone,” he said.
Azman said outsourcing and public-private partnerships, for example, would help ease pressure on public hospitals as the ministry develops broader reforms.
He noted that the Hospital Services Outsourcing Programme, which began in 2024, has seen waiting times for arteriovenous fistula surgeries fall by 75% from 16 weeks to four weeks. Waiting times for MRI and ultrasound services have fallen by 20% — from 20 weeks to 16 weeks — while CT scans waits fell 14%, from 14 weeks to 12 weeks.
Malaysian Urological Association (MUA) president Dr Noor Ashani Yusoff said MediAsas, which aims to make basic private medical insurance more accessible and affordable, would also indirectly ease pressure on public hospitals and clinics by giving more Malaysians access to private healthcare.
He welcomed the health ministry’s reform efforts under RESET, including MediAsas, as a crucial step towards recognising that pressure on the public healthcare system cannot be addressed by expanding capacity alone.
“From a practitioner’s perspective, we need to distinguish between healthcare financing reform and the immediate service delivery problems experienced by patients,” he said.
Addressing inherited manpower shortages, Azman said the ministry had undertaken the largest human resources exercise in its history, with 18,755 medical, pharmacy and dental officers granted permanent appointments.
He added that 4,328 nurses were made permanent between 2023 and 2025, with another 935 to be made permanent this year. In addition, the legacy contract doctor system is set to end by 2028 as medical officers are absorbed into permanent roles in phases.
To resolve long-standing specialist shortages, the ministry expanded sponsorships for the parallel pathway programme to 600 annually across 14 fields — a massive increase from just 52 in 2022.
Amendments to the Medical Act 1971 allow specialists from both the local master’s and parallel pathway programmes to be recognised. Specialists undergoing supervised working experience (SWE) receive a special allowance of between RM1,900 and RM3,100 a month, known as the pre-gazettement specialist incentive.
“These efforts are aimed at building a more efficient, integrated and sustainable health system, while keeping patient access, quality and safety at the centre of reform,” said Azman.
MUA vice-president Shanggar Kuppusamy said Malaysia already has considerable healthcare infrastructure and expertise in both the public and private sectors.
“The opportunity now is to make these components work more effectively as one healthcare ecosystem rather than as two largely separate systems,” he said. - FMT
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