A nine percent increase for MOH, focus on the Health White Paper
BY: Dr A Lingeshwaran
The overall budget for Ministry of Health (MOH) saw an increase of 9% compared to this year. However, the increase is at a much lower pace compared to Budget 2024 and also far from the 5% GDP that was the benchmark for upper middle income country. Hence, the MOH should focus on the implementation of the Health White Paper in which Health Financing is one of the four pillars.
The RM 1.35 billion to upgrade dilapidated healthcare facilities including wards is a great move. Many of MOH hospitals are more than 100 years old and urgently need repair and upgrading. In my home state Penang alone, 4 out of 6 public hospitals namely Hospital Pulau Pinang , Hospital Balik Pulau, Hospital Bukit Mertajam and Hospital Sungai Bakap are all over a century old.
Some of the facility can be considered museum grade hospitals and needs to be urgently upgraded to render proper health services.
This additional RM 1.35 billion is a great move and will increase the spirits and motivation of our health care workers in delivering safe, timely, effective patient centric health care. The continuation of the allocation for dilapidated clinics also should be lauded as throughout the last 2 years, we had since many Klinik Desa upgraded and this will definitely improve health seeking behaviour as well as confidence with treatment rendered at those facilities.
As for the excise duty on sugar-sweetened beverages, I think it is a good move although it sounded a bit negative. Personally, I will prefer a positive approach ie. Incentivise Rakyat to stay healthy rather than punishing them for unhealthy behaviour. I hope beverage company will have lower pricing structure for low sugar or no sugar option so that we can really incentivise the Rakyat to reduce sugar intake.
Rare disease treatment allocation of RM 25 mil is great! These diseases are often neglected and it has the highest cost for investigation as well as treatment. Tax break shall be considered for companies who step forward to fund NGOs of rare diseases who are often fighting a very lonely battle.
For Rakan KKM and outsourcing initiative, this are part of the interim initiative to address the gap of health financing. It should be fully supported as we gradually move towards a more sustainable health financing model for the country.
Also worth mentioning is the increase of On call Allowance for Medical Officers and Dental Officers. There is slightly more than 25% increase for the on-call allowance and the Health Minister shall be praised for continuously fighting for this. Though the overall quantum is still small compared to the amount of workload, this is a good move for a start.
Finally, I am glad that the government has announced various initiatives for autism under Budget 2025. I had highlighted previously in few Dewan Negara sittings about the huge gap for this group of patient. The announcement is indeed very good news.
Dr A Lingeshwaran is a senator in Dewan Negara.
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