KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 – Dzulkefly Ahmad revealed today that the reduction of the scope of the Madani Medical Scheme (SPM) from nationwide to just 10 districts was due to cost factors.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman asked the health minister in Parliament the reason for the SPM cutbacks, describing it as a “very good and progressive” programme and that he had helped to register low-income constituents for the programme that fully subsidises acute outpatient treatment at private general practitioner (GP) clinics.
“The sudden announcement that the Madani Medical Scheme has been downscaled from the entire country to just 10 districts will hinder health care access by low-income families,” Syed Saddiq said in the Dewan Rakyat today, as he appealed for the programme to continue.
Dzulkefly responded that he would explain the downscaling of SPM in detail at Ministers’ Question Time in Parliament tomorrow.
“I want to stress that SPM is very popular. However, this is a question of cost. We have spent nearly all of the funds for this year,” said the health minister.
“I am sure that the government will make appropriate considerations, since the programme is very popular among both people and GPs.”
It is unclear why SPM would finish its RM100 million allocation from Budget 2024 so early in the year in February.
ProtectHealth Corporation – a fully-owned company by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that runs SPM – merely said in a statement yesterday that the downscaling of SPM to just 10 districts, effective last February 26, after nationwide expansion last September, was “refinement” to improve effectiveness and sustainability.
The 10 districts are the same ones that piloted during the launch of SPM last June: Kuala Lumpur; Gombak, Hulu Langat, Petaling, and Klang in Selangor; Johor Bahru (Johor); Kinta (Perak); North East (Penang); Kota Kinabalu (Sabah); and Kuching (Sarawak).
While ProtectHealth noted that SPM had successfully cut congestion in MOH facilities in the districts during the pilot phase of the programme, the third-party administrator’s statement did not mention if there was a sudden recent spike of patient visits under SPM that would cause funding to run out so quickly.
