SHAH ALAM, Oct 29 ― Putrajaya should unify Malaysia’s health system under the public-private partnership (PPP) model to free up financial resources to develop other parts of the economy, argued United Nations Young Leader Dr Mohd Lutfi Fadil Lokman.
According to the 29-year-old medical officer cum researcher at the Institute for Health Systems Research that is attached to the Health Ministry’s National Institutes of Health, the government was currently spending too much to treat preventable diseases.
He said his suggestion would free up the same resources by shifting the financial burden to a national health insurance system, resources that Lutfi believed were critical to the success of the country’s 2050 National Transformation (TN50) vision.
“If there was a partnership between the private and public sector, this including NGOs, there will be a standardised medical fee while sharing the same pool of doctors, medical equipment and infrastructure in the field.
“In other words, there will be a single unified medical care provider without the separation of private and public hospitals, that will be made accessible to all with a nominal cost,” he told Malay Mail Online.
Citing Singapore and Germany as examples of where such government-run health insurance schemes have been implemented successfully, Dr Lutfi said this would allow patients to pay for services under the system without worrying about affordability.
In July, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam was reported as saying that the government was mulling an insurance scheme that would be supported by the government.
However, talks into the implementation of the scheme is yet to take off.
Dr Lutfi also argued that a PPP arrangement would allow both financial resources and medical personnel to be pooled under a single umbrella, which he said would lead to more efficient use of both.
He was giving his views when asked for his suggestions on areas the government should improve to help achieve the TN50 plan.
Last week, national news agency Bernama reported Youth and Sports Minister (KBS) Khairy Jamaluddin as saying his ministry will implement two phases to prepare early input for the TN50.
The first phase, according to Khairy, would involve a consultation process to obtain views of youths and the second phase would be on gathering views of adults before tabling them to the prime minister.
When tabling the the 2017 Budget, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the government would launch a national discourse series on TN50.
TN50, which will be under his patronage, will be kick-started by the young diverse generation of all races through national discourse as decided by the Cabinet and conducted by KBS.
Under the 2017 Budget, RM25 billion have been allocated to boost healthcare services, which among others will see the building and upgrading of numerous healthcare centres.
