Independent health policy analyst Dr Khor Swee Kheng said Asean member states and their 661 million population will benefit immensely from a pooled vaccine effort.
He said the current nationalistic approach in vaccine purchases might not be feasible in the long run and that it was time for a “regional pooled vaccine procurement” to meet global demand.
“When Asean, with its millions of people, makes an order, pharma companies will sit up and take notice, so it is always beneficial to have a regional effort in getting vaccines,” he said.
Khor said this at the Malaysian Healthcare Conference hosted by the KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific on Zoom today.
Recently, people in Penang were turned away when waiting for their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine following a drop in worldwide supply. The same issue was reported in Australia.
Government should increase budget to hire more doctors
Meanwhile, International Medical University’s Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the government needs to spend more on healthcare due to a dramatic increase in demand for patient care as well as to hire more doctors.
He said the biggest chunk of the present healthcare budget goes to the management of hospitals alone, which leaves behind very little for more essential needs, such as staffing.
“In the case of contract doctors, it is not the health ministry that does not need them, it is simply because they can’t finance them, or create permanent posts (for them).
“The pandemic has exposed the signs of a failing healthcare system in our country,” the public health professor said.
Lokman said data management at hospitals remained “traditional” and fell far behind automated systems which could save more time for frontliners in the long run.
Former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said Covid-19 responses should not be politicised, and the government should empower experts to give advice and use them to develop policies.
He said the media also played a role in clarifying the role of these experts in aiding the government to come up with better policies.
Send patients to private hospitals; consider virtual hospitals
Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Dr Kuljit Singh said the government should not think too much about transferring or decanting patients to private hospitals given the present situation.
He said there was an urgent need to look into a public-private partnership model that can facilitate decanting, adding the cost of patient care was not much different compared to government hospitals.
Kuljit also called for a single platform for all medical record systems in the country so that both government and private hospitals can access patient data as and when it is needed.
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy agreed with Kuljit on a common platform system while urging the government to tap into the 6,000-odd general practitioners to support in the efforts of combating the pandemic.
He said it was unfortunate that 1,000-odd contract doctors had left government services over a wage dispute, as useful manpower was lost.
“We must have as many hands on deck as possible as the number of deaths increase and our primary healthcare system continues to be strained.”
Napier Healthcare chief executive Tirupathi Karthik said barring surgeries, virtual care is the best way forward given the current crisis.
“Barring surgeries, there is no reason for most hospital visits. Perhaps the time has come to set up a 100% digital hospital and totally re-imagined healthcare. To do this, we have to slaughter all the sacred cows that we have surrounded our mindset with.”