KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — Health care remains more difficult to navigate than industries like banking and air travel, with patients facing persistent confusion over where to seek treatment, how much care will cost, and how to move through the system.
ProtectHealth Corporation head of health care sustainability and assurance Dr Muhammed Anis Abd Wahab said the health care system lacks clarity and simplicity compared to other industries, making it harder for patients to engage confidently.
“I would even argue banking is much less complex. I would go to a bank and then the security guard would tell me which form to fill in, how to get a number and so on,” Dr Anis said during a panel discussion at the launch of Prudential plc’s commissioned Economist Impact report, “Patient Voices Malaysia: Making Healthcare Clearer and More Connected”, here on Tuesday.
“So already you can see that other industries are making it more simplified, making it easier that even the security guard understands more about how to navigate the system.”
Dr Anis highlighted that even medically trained individuals find the system complicated, with patients unsure about specialist roles and care pathways.
“It’s a difficult, complex system to navigate. People don’t know the difference between going to a physiotherapist or an occupational therapist, let alone the difference between an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
“Even when I think about taking my mother or late father to different facilities, different environments have different workflows and protocols. And I am [talking as] a doctor who is used to how things are done,” Dr Anis said.
ProtectHealth is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Health.
His remarks align with findings from a Prudential-commissioned study, which points to widespread delays in care among Malaysians amid uncertainty and difficulty navigating the health system.
The survey of 1,020 respondents found that 94 percent had postponed seeking medical treatment in the past year, often because of work and family pressures as well as confusion about where to go.
More than half, 54 percent, said they did not know where to seek treatment when unwell. Another 53 percent expressed concerns about affordability, even though many found actual costs to be lower than expected, while a similar share reported difficulties using digital tools for appointments, citing systems that are complex or poorly connected.
On cost clarity, Prudential plc chief executive officer for health Arjan Toor said pricing in health care remains far less predictable than in other sectors.
“There is something very strange about the fact that when you book an airplane ticket, you know exactly how much you’re going to pay to be transported from A to B. When you go on a health journey, you have no idea how much it’s going to cost,” Toor said.
“As a matter of fact, even if you are given an indication of the cost, it could still change. It would be very strange if you booked an airplane ticket and then, you know, at arrival, the company would basically say, we chose a more expensive pilot so we’re going to charge you more, or actually this plane was a bit smaller than the plane that we had anticipated to fly, so we’re going to charge you a little bit less, right?
“That variability would be unacceptable in any other industry,” Toor said. “Why do we accept that in health care? Why is that? I think we really need to force ourselves to think about this differently.”
