From 2019 to 2022, poorer households increased their healthcare spending faster than wealthier households, reversing pre-pandemic trends.

Rural areas in several states, including Kedah, Kelantan and Sarawak, saw healthcare expenses grow more rapidly than urban areas, although urban households continued to spend more in absolute terms.

“Medicines, once the dominant category within healthcare expenditure, saw their share decline as spending on medical products surged,” said the report, titled “The State of Households 2024: Households and the Pandemic 2019-2022”.

“It was driven by the need for preventive items like face masks and sanitisers,” it said.

At the height of the pandemic, the health ministry had made it mandatory for people to wear face masks in enclosed areas, including public transportation.

The ministry also encouraged the public to sanitise their hands regularly to curb the spread of the virus.

KRI also found that the use of the internet to seek health information and to make health appointments online dropped after 2021, more starkly in those aged above 60.

“This pandemic-driven surge in digital health use highlights the potential benefits of healthcare digitalisation, and also challenges to its implementation,” it said.