SHAH ALAM: Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad should re-examine and re-evaluate the current healthcare delivery system and health status of Malaysians to seek best practices to address the array of issues plaguing the sector.
In a joint statement issued by two senior medical practitioners, Datuk Dr Musa Nordin and Dr Johari Bux, the Health Ministry was urged to form an eminent panel of advisors to address pressing issues within the ministry and healthcare sector.
Dr Musa is KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital consultant paediatrician and neonatologist, while Dr Johari is an obstetrician and gynaecologist consultant at Tung Shin Hospital.
Among the key issues listed were the dwindling budget allocation for health (two per cent of GDP in the public sector), shortage of hospital beds in government hospitals, lack of synergy between the ministry and the private health sector, and incessant complaints from junior doctors due to a ‘toxic MOH work culture’.
They also highlighted the need to increase the opportunities for medical officers to pursue postgraduate studies, address the challenges of non-communicable diseases, and ageing population, plug leakages in the ministry’s finances and tackle the escalating costs of healthcare.
“We need to harness the talent pool among health care professionals (HCP) to flourish the ministry’s centres of excellence to mitigate the brain drain.
“Therefore in our humble opinion, the next immediate, urgent and important task for YB Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is to source for wisdom, experience and talented persons who will advise him professionally. His team need to headhunt for the best brains and hearts from amongst the medical fraternity for this national duty.
“We, the rakyat, will not tolerate mediocrity in our quest for Universal Health Coverage for our citizenry,” they wrote in the statement.
The statement further said the advisors will need to report specifically on four areas of concern, namely the existing and future needs for accessible, safe and quality healthcare services; the resources required to actualise these services; and to make recommendations to the minister of the necessary infra-structure, provisions, resources (urgent and important, must have, can wait, can do without).
It also urged the authorities to zero in towards the objective of universal health coverage “ensuring that all our rakyat have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the rakyat do not suffer financial hardship when paying for these services.”
“We are very sure that there have been studies to address some or all of these issues. They advisory board does not need to reinvent the wheel.
“The wise, experienced and eminent persons on the advisory board should collate all of these information and synthesise the roadmap to ensure the good health of all Malaysians and the healthcare services required to actualise this.
“In the final analysis, the KPI of the minister is to ensure health for all Malaysians, that no Malaysian is left out ,and that Malaysians stay healthy,” the statement read.
Dr Dzulkefly, 62, who is also Kuala Selangor Member of Parliament, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Birmingham and a Master of Science degree from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom.
He received his doctorate in Medical Science (Toxicology) from the Imperial College (St Mary’s Hospital Medical School) in 1993.
He had served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, in Penang and the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM), Kelantan, in the 1980s and 1990s.