Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Khalib said it was unfortunate that measures to combat non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure were not included in the budget for the first time.
The previous national budgets he said recognised that the country was struggling through an NCD crisis, with one in five people living with diabetes; three in 10 with hypertension; and 3.4 million currently living with at least two NCDs.
He said the increasing burden on the national health system was a symptom of this crisis. “More must be done to help prevent the onset of NCDs,” he said.
The health ministry has been allocated RM36.3 billion in the 2023 budget, a 12% increase from last year.
The highlights include a RM120 million scheme to help the poor get treatment from private clinics in an attempt to reduce queues at government hospitals.
Other allocations include: RM4.9 billion for the procurement of medicines, reagents and vaccines; RM10 million for the procurement of generators for 10 hospitals and RM100 million to replace obsolete medical equipment.
Raise salaries in health service
While the government was committed to resolving the shortage of healthcare workers by allocating RM 3 billion for new permanent and contract positions, it must also fund the promotion of existing staff.
“The government must increase salaries to support retention of skilled healthcare workers,” he said.
Tax all vape and e-cigarette products
Azrul hailed the taxation for e-cigarettes and vape containing nicotine but said the government failed to deal with vape devices without nicotine.
The vape industry which is estimated to be worth more than RM2 billion, is largely made up of no-nicotine vape, he said. “All vape and e-cigarette products should be taxed,”
Teaching hospitals left out
Azrul also decried the lack of increased funds for teaching hospitals as their allocations continue to stagnate, despite being on a heavy workload since the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also said there was no talk on how the future of government healthcare was to be funded in the long run, through sustainable financing to provide quality service in decades to come.
Health service on a separate footing
Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Dr Kuljit Singh calledfor the separation of the health and medical service from the public services department, with separate salary scales.
The split would enable better pay and training based on the current needs and issues.
Kuljit also welcomed the government’s plans to decant patients from public hospitals to private hospitals. However the intake of patients would be based on capacity as private hospitals were overstretched.