Lauding Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s assurance early this month that education and health will receive the largest allocations in next year’s budget, the Malaysian Health Coalition said funding should be gradually increased to reach 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and, at the same time, reduce reliance on government spending.

“The Health White Paper states that in 2020, Malaysia funded healthcare through three main sources: tax funding from the government (55% of all healthcare spending), OOP payments (36%) and private insurance (9%).

“The World Health Organization believes that if OOP is below 20%, few households will face catastrophic health expenditure.

“Therefore, we believe that the government must begin diversifying funding sources to reduce OOP spending and reduce reliance on government spending,” the coalition, representing 27 health organisations and nine specialists, said in a statement today.

It said new funding sources may include gradually introducing social health insurance, earmarking sin taxes, rationalising user fees, and appropriately mobilising funds from charities and zakat.

The coalition also said the budget should focus on preventive healthcare, aiming to increase health literacy and eventually reduce the demand for hospital care.

“Our first steps can include stronger public-private partnerships with private general practitioners, as well as increased training positions for family medicine specialists and allied healthcare providers,” it said.