KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — A recent survey by market pollster Ipsos has found that 68 per cent of Malaysians polled said they trust in the national healthcare system to provide the best treatment for them.

Despite a slight drop compared to the previous year’s survey which stood at 75 per cent, Malaysian respondents recorded a higher rate of trust than the global average at 51 per cent.

"The effectiveness and quality of national healthcare systems has been in the spotlight across the world since early 2020, as the pandemic has tested it to its limits.

"The Malaysian healthcare system remains highly trusted, towering above the global country average, but falls short of the high point in 2020,” Ipsos Public Affairs associate director Lars Erik Lie said.

Malaysia succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic since last year and has accumulated a total cumulative 2,475,983 cases as well as 29,045 deaths as of yesterday.

Ipsos also noted that three biggest challenges in the healthcare system highlighted by the Malaysian respondents were long waiting times (43 per cent), cost of treatment (41 per cent) and shortage of staff (38 per cent).

It also said that 31 per cent of respondents believed that the quality of the healthcare system will gradually improve from time to time compared to respondents from Japan and the United Kingdom who expected the quality of their healthcare to get worse.

"Similar to other emerging markets, there’s a broad optimism that the healthcare system will continue improving in the future,” he added.

The study had involved 25,513 respondents from 30 countries, including 500 from Malaysia, from August 20 until September 3 this year.

Ipsos is among the largest market research companies in the world, present in 90 markets and employing more than 18,000 people.