KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 – Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently announced plans to raise the Health Ministry’s (MOH) annual budget to 5 per cent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) over the next few years to address “chronic” underfunding of the public health care system post-Covid.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, MOH’s allocation under Budget 2022 tabled last October increased only by a meagre 1.5 per cent to RM32.4 billion from the 2021 budget.
Khairy said the Health White Paper, which he intends to table in Parliament by year end, should discuss the development of a robust health care funding model.
Earlier in June at a health forum in Singapore, the health minister mooted a social health insurance and co-payment scheme as a way to future-proof Malaysia’s health care system.
Khairy also said the RM1 and RM5 medical fees for outpatient and specialist care respectively in MOH health care facilities are unsustainable.
This anonymous poll by CodeBlue aims to gauge public opinion on health care financing.
Among the questions asked are whether you support doubling the annual public health care budget to RM70 million (5 per cent of GDP), if you support reducing another ministry’s budget to fund an increase of MOH’s budget, whether fuel subsidies should be cut, and if the goods and services tax (GST) should be restored to expand the general taxation revenue pool.
Please click here to do the survey. Thank you for your participation!
