PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s public healthcare expenditure will be gradually increased to 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the year, says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The Health Minister said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has given his commitment to gradually increase Malaysia’s public healthcare expenditure.
Khairy said he had informed Ismail Sabri last week that Malaysia’s public healthcare expenditure is at 2.58% of the GDP, which is considered low for an upper-middle income country.
“For upper-middle income countries, it should’ve been between 4-5% of the GDP.
“God-willing, during the officiating ceremony of Hospital Bera on Saturday (Aug 20), the Prime Minister agreed that our public healthcare expenditure will be gradually increased till it reaches 5% of the GDP.
“Therefore, as the Health Minister, I cannot ask for more than what the Prime Minister has committed so far,” said Khairy during the Keluarga Malaysia symposium at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) on Sunday (Aug 21) afternoon.
During the symposium, Khairy tabled achievements by the Health Ministry since he was appointed as the minister, nearly a year ago on Aug 26.
According to Khairy, the Health Ministry managed to reduce the backlog of non-Covid-19 cases of over 57,000, to about 4,800 cases.
“We managed to reduce the backlog by 92%,” added Khairy.
Khairy said the Covid-19 pandemic revealed weaknesses in the public healthcare system, as he noted that since 2016, there hasn’t been the appointment of any permanent positions involving contract doctors, dental officers and pharmacists.
However, Khairy said after he raised the issue to Cabinet and appealed to the Prime Minister, 4,053 permanent positions were subsequently approved last week.
“This is the biggest increase since 2016,” said Khairy.
Meanwhile, Khairy said he was unapologetic over criticism for being stern in Malaysia’s Covid-19 immunisation programme.
“Many said I was too strict. I don’t apologise for it,” he said, Among our achievements in coming out of the pandemic was the Covid-19 immunisation programme, which is among the best in the world,” added Khairy.