Its deputy minister, Lee Boon Chye, said the amount being requested made up 2.01% of the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) for next year.

He was responding to a question by Charles Santiago (PH-Klang) on the government’s willingness to fix the ministry’s allocation at 7% of the GDP, according to suggestions made by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Lee (PH-Gopeng) said the ministry’s allocation had recorded increases from year to year, with the amount doubling compared with a decade ago, from RM13 billion in 2008 to RM26.58 billion this year.

He said 50% of the ministry’s allocation was to cater to the needs at government hospitals.

“At this juncture, the public sector health allocation is at the rate of 1.87% of the GDP.

“If the recommendations of WHO are to be taken into account, then the allocation for the public sector should be 3.5-4% of the GDP.

“At present, the government contributes 52% of all of the country’s health allocations, while the private sector contributes 48%,” he said.

Lee said if the health allocation for the public sector is increased to 3.5- 4% of the GDP, it will involve a large amount of funds from government coffers and this could not possibly be done immediately.

“As such, the ministry will apply for gradual increases from year to year in the federal budget,” he said.

Santiago subsequently pointed out that poorer countries like Vietnam and Cambodia had allocated bigger budgets for health. He said if these poorer countries could commit more to health, why not Malaysia.

To this, Lee said the country’s financial situation had to be considered.

“We need to do this very carefully. The increases must be gradual so that it won’t cause a shock to our financial position,” he added.