KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 – Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa is scheduled to visit the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom later this month to discuss the current state and future of Malaysia’s health care system.
The January 28 forum titled “Building A Resilient Health Care System: The Future of Medical Research Collaboration between Malaysia and UK” at the University of Oxford in England – co-organised by Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) and Oxford University Malaysia Club – will feature talks by Dr Zaliha, Malaysian Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, and Oxford University associate professor of cardiovascular medicine.
“Special talks by the Minister of Health, DG of Health & Assoc Prof Dr Masliza Mahmod, alongside with forum discussing on the future of Malaysia’s health care system,” CRM tweeted today.
An invite by Oxford University Malaysia Club to the event posted on Facebook last January 7 described the forum at Corpus Christi College as an “event to discuss the current state and potential future of the Malaysian health care system, bringing together current leaders in the field as well as inspiring and directing the next generation looking to shape the future of our nation’s health care”.
The online sign-up sheet for the event, accessed by CodeBlue this morning, said that the event has been “oversubscribed”, with no more places left.
Dr Zaliha has yet to announce any public discussions on the state of the Malaysian health care system that is similar to the UK’s NHS crisis, as Malaysian patients are stranded for days in emergency departments and doctors across hospitals and public health clinics increasingly complain of being overworked and underpaid.
A month into the job, the health minister has only held private meetings with the Malaysian Medical Association and the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia.
In her Amanat 2023 address to Ministry of Health (MOH) staff last Friday, Dr Zaliha proposed extending operating hours at Klinik Kesihatan to relieve the overcrowding of emergency rooms, sparking anger from government doctors who say that staff at public health clinics are already overworked.
