KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) estimates it will need 22,435 medical specialists by 2030, compared to 9,040 currently in service, highlighting a shortfall of more than 13,000 specialists in the public health system.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the current figure of 9,040 specialists covers 29 core specialties across medical and public health facilities as of December 31, 2025.
“Overall, MOH requires 22,435 specialist medical officers by 2030. On average, MOH produces between 1,000 and 1,400 new specialist medical officers each year,” Dzulkefly said in a written Dewan Negara reply on February 24 to Senator Shamsuddin Abd Ghaffar.
At current production rates of 1,000 to 1,400 specialists annually, the training pipeline would produce about 4,000 to 5,600 specialists by 2030 – less than half of the gap of over 13,000 – excluding attrition and distribution challenges in the public sector.
To support specialist training, the government has allocated RM178 million in 2026 under the MOH Specialist Training Programme, involving the Master of Medicine Programme with the Federal Training Award (HLP) and Parallel Pathway Specialist Training.
“This allocation involves payment of tuition fees as well as allowances and facilities during study leave for officers currently in training and officers from the June/July 2026 intake cohort,” Dzulkefly said.
The 2026 allocation represents an increase of RM33.4 million, or 19 per cent, compared to 2025.
The ministry did not specify the distribution of specialists required across individual disciplines or the current shortfall by specialty.
CodeBlue reported in July last year that Malaysia’s public health care sector was short of nearly 11,000 specialist doctors at the time, with the system operating at about 44 per cent of required capacity, based on MOH data.
The biggest shortages were in key disciplines such as cardiothoracic surgery, forensic pathology, and family medicine, based on gaps between required numbers and the existing workforce.
