Such proceedings are accessible to the public in countries like the UK, Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy said.

Its CEO, Azrul Khalib, said it was frustrating that people in Malaysia were prohibited from observing the proceedings unless invited.

“This should change. It is important that people who would like to view and be informed on issues of interest should be able to do so,” he said in a statement welcoming the 10 parliamentary committees that were approved in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The committees will cover issues such as finance, health, cost of living, transport, education, security and human rights.

Azrul said a parliamentary committee on health went beyond providing oversight and evaluation of the government’s management of existing health concerns.

He said there were also outstanding and urgent matters such as healthcare reforms, infrastructure gaps in Sabah and Sarawak, management of healthcare workers and health care financing that needed to be looked into.

Such matters had been “kicked down the road for decades for the next government and health minister to figure out”, he said.

However, Azrul said a parliamentary committee on health was no “magic bullet” that would solve issues which would take time and political will, including that of sustainable healthcare financing.

But it will help provide visibility, guidance and direction to the executive and the civil servants, he said.

He also said such committees had the potential to raise problems and issues, and introduce amendments to bills before they were tabled for debate.

“Therefore, we need to ensure that we have knowledgeable and interested MPs to be on the committees so the relevant issues and questions can be raised,” he said.