KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Private health care providers in Malaysia are likely to bear the brunt of global supply disruptions amid the US-Iran war due to smaller inventories and exposure to market pricing.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib noted that public hospitals, on the other hand, remain buffered by bulk procurement systems, but face heavier patient loads that limit their capacity to absorb shocks.
He said Malaysia’s vulnerability extends beyond medicines to a wide range of essential medical consumables that underpin daily health care delivery, but are often overlooked.
“This is a very important question (on Malaysia’s vulnerability) for a lot of us working in the health space right now because the biggest vulnerability for Malaysia is not only in terms of pharmaceuticals or medicines, but also some of the hidden materials and consumables that we take granted or perhaps don’t even consider that keep modern health care running,” Azrul Mohd Khalib told Astro Awani’s Consider This host Melisa Idris last Monday.
He said items such as dialysis equipment, bloodlines, syringes, IV bags, catheters, personal protective equipment, and reagents depend heavily on global supply chains linked to petrochemical feedstocks, shipping routes, and international suppliers.
“And we know for a fact that if you don’t have this in a way that is sanitary and hygienic, then it compromises an ability to provide the kind of health care that we have come to expect,” Azrul said.
He warned that disruptions in oil supply, freight routes, or insurance costs could quickly translate into shortages at the facility level.
“The Strait of Hormuz crisis has actually exposed this logistic change and how we have now come to understand it or appreciate it really – how a disruption in oil, naphtha, shipping or insurance costs can quickly become a hospital supply problem at the local level here in Malaysia,” Azrul said.
The impact of such disruptions would be felt directly by patients, through delayed prescription refills, treatment changes, and higher costs, Azrul added.
“Maybe a medicine that they usually would have is now being substituted for something else that may be less optimal or maybe even inferior.
“A higher bill is also something that everybody talks about, right? Price increases, demand continues, but suddenly supply is less, therefore the price goes up,” Azrul explained.
Patients may also face postponed procedures or disruptions to chronic disease management, including cancer treatment and dialysis, which could ultimately affect health outcomes.
Azrul highlighted dialysis patients as a particularly vulnerable group, noting that more than 60,000 Malaysians depend on uninterrupted access to specialised equipment that cannot be easily substituted.
“So we are particularly worried, for example, for the issue of dialysis, especially for those who are having to go through haemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD), patients whose kidneys fail and are depending on renal replacement therapies.
“Because more than 60,000 Malaysians now depend on dialysis. And shortages of any part of the dialysis components and equipment can not be easily substituted by something else.”
He said other at-risk groups include cancer patients, people with diabetes or cardiovascular disease, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and low-income households, particularly those who need to travel long distances to access care.
While public hospitals have some protection through centralised procurement systems and buffer stocks, their large patient volumes constrain their ability to absorb supply and cost shocks.
Private providers, including smaller clinics, community pharmacies, and dialysis centres, are more exposed due to limited stockholding and reliance on market pricing. About 72 per cent of end-stage kidney disease patients in Malaysia are treated in private or charity dialysis centres.
“What we’re expecting is that because public hospitals, they’re larger, you know, 70 per cent of the Malaysian population depend on public health care, they have actually stronger central procurement and then they have some buffer stocks,” Azrul said.
“But the problem here is that they also have a large patient load, so they won’t be able to have as much room to absorb if there’s price shocks.”
He added that private providers are “going to be savagely exposed” as many operate with only about a month’s supply and must procure at prevailing market prices once stocks run out.
As global disruptions persist, Azrul warned that the cumulative impact across medicines, consumables, and logistics could lead to a gradual erosion in the quality and accessibility of care.
“There’s a lot of this that’s going to be felt across the different real world scenarios for patients for which, at the end of the day, what we’ll see is a diminished quality of care that’s being experienced by patients at that level.”
