Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was because the ministry was one of the important ministries that dealt directly with the people.

“During the recent coordination meeting of the development projects under the 12th Malaysia Plan, I was informed that the health ministry needs to be assisted in the upcoming budget.

“Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin asked for the expenditure to be increased to 5% of the gross domestic product. Right now, it’s 2.5%. The Economic Planning Unit has been told to look into this.

“Hopefully, there will be a slight increase in the budget for the health ministry this year compared with previous years,” he said when opening Hospital Bera here today.

Ismail said he understood the need for the higher allocation because Malaysia would be an aged country in 2040, which would lead to higher health expenses.

He also realised that other countries had increased their health budgets because there was an increase in the number of elderly people admitted to hospitals.

The construction of the Bera Hospital is also proof of the government’s seriousness in providing quality health services, he added.

“The construction project has been abandoned for a long time due to the failure of the contractor. Alhamdulillah, the hospital is finally ready.”

Khairy said an operating theatre costing RM9 million would be built at the Bera Hospital.

This will complement services at Temerloh’s Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Hospital.

At present, Bera Hospital has 40 beds. This can be expanded further to accommodate 60 beds in the future.

The inpatient unit, involving the maternity ward and the children’s ward, began operating on Aug 2 while the adult wards, specialist clinics and other services will start operating from Oct 1.

Khairy said specialised services such as emergency and trauma, obstetrics and gynaecology, general medicine, psychiatry, paediatrics and rehabilitation would be available at Bera Hospital through the “visiting specialist” concept from next month.