Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the reform agenda, among others, would focus on innovative and creative ways to spend the yearly budget announced by the government.

“(The health ministry) is receiving RM41.2 billion (under budget 2024) for this year and has been given RM6.07 billion for development expenditure. Truly we are underfunded, understaffed and overworked.

“If you don’t allow me the resources, allow me to be resourceful and I will come up with all the innovative ideas to ensure that we can spend and drive our expenditure in a creative way,” he said in his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Avisena Specialist Hospital expansion project.

He said as an upper-middle-income country, the nation should spend 6-7% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare rather than 5.1% at present.

Dzulkefly also applauded the private sector’s efforts to complement the public healthcare system. He urged the private sector to be involved in value-based healthcare.

Meanwhile, Dzulkefly said the ministry was also carrying out efforts to optimise the use of wards by offering daily patient treatment care at main hospitals and through the digitalisation of the bed management unit.

He said the move was in line with improving the targeted hospital bed ratio of two beds to 1,000 residents to 2.06 by the end of the 12th Malaysia Plan.