By ERICA ANUAR

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) welcomes the substantial increase in the overall 2024 budget for the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Its president Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz said the association is delighted to hear that the salary and allowance schemes for permanent staff which should include public healthcare workers will be finally reviewed after more than 10 years.

“Overall, there are a number of good initiatives included in the budget for health; however, our main concern is the issue of human resource planning and development which isn’t satisfactorily being addressed in Budget 2024,” she said in response to the 2024 Budget announcement today.

Dr Azizan said MMA are pleased to hear that the Madani Medical Scheme will be expanded but hoped that the scheme would include non communicable disease (NCD) management as it will encourage higher participation from the private GPs and as a result, significantly reduce overcrowding at public healthcare facilities.

“The well distributed 13,000 private GPs can also improve access to health services under initiatives like the Madani Medical Scheme,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dr Azizan said the rise in excise duty on sugary beverages is a start in the right direction to discourage excessive sugar consumption; however, we hope that the amount diverted toward diabetes treatment and dialysis support is transparent, she added.

“Apart from discouraging high sugar consumption, the government should also encourage healthy lifestyle behaviour through policies to comprehensively address the issue of increasing cases of NCDs among the population,” she commented.

More information should be provided, she pointed out, on the government’s plans to support the establishment of a Cancer Institute in Sarawak, as well as its plans to equip the facility with the necessary knowledge, as this may need long-term human resource planning and specialist development.

MMA stated that, in addition to Sarawak, the northern portion of Peninsula Malaysia requires a cancer institute as well as there are also inadequacies in healthcare infrastructure in the northern peninsula that must be filled.

“We also urge the government to ensure transparency with the listing of the 400 dilapidated clinics that will be repaired,” she said.

On another note, MMA said it was delighted to hear that the salary and allowance schemes

Meanwhile, Dr Abdullah Aiman, a 29-year-old government doctor commented that with the significant increase in budget from RM36 billion to RM41 billion, he believes the doctors appreciate the effort to restructure and improve the system.

“Kerajaan Madani is intent on putting the freshly launched Madani Afiyat into action. It just goes to prove that they do pay attention to the ‘orang bawah” (the young doctors),” he told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).

Dr Aiman is optimistic that with improvements and an emphasis on preventative measures, primary healthcare, and public health, this endeavour should be able to relieve some of the strain on their (the doctors) overloaded hospitals and tertiary care.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today announced RM41.2 billion allocation for the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Budget 2024, an astounding 13.5% increase over the RM36.3 billion granted in Budget 2023.

Besides, the MOH continues to hold the position of the second-largest allocation in the federal budget after the Ministry of Education.

The allocation will include expanding the use of digital health records and further promoting preventive health care.

Furthermore, he said the government is allocating RM150 million to maintain and expand information technology (IT) systems under the MOH, including the implementation of Clinic Management System Subscription (CCMS) in 100 klinik kesihatan (health clinics), covering rural and community clinics as well.

“A total of RM5.5 billion from the allocation would be used to procure medicine supplies, consumable materials, reagents, and vaccines,” he added.

He also announced several new development projects would commence, including the Phase 1 of the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) Teaching Hospital Complex in Kota Tinggi, Johor with a cost of RM938 million.

Also, he said initial works for the construction of Sultanah Aminah 2 Hospital in Johor Baru and an additional pathology block at Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kelantan with a cost of RM175 million.

Other projects include a RM150 million expansion of the Emergency and Trauma Department at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Hospital, Universiti Putra Malaysia; and five new health clinics in Rantau (Negeri Sembilan), Kuala Tahan (Jerantut, Pahang), Kuala Jengal (Dungun, Terengganu), and Pulau Mantanani (Kota Belud, Sabah).

He also stated that the government backed Sarawak’s desire to establish a Cancer Institute in the state.

MOH’s portion of RM41.2 billion in the new federal budget accounts for 10.5 percent of the entire budget of RM393.8 billion, which is 1.1 percentage points greater than its share in the 2023 budget.