ALOR STAR: Increased annual public allocation which takes up five per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is necessary for healthcare reforms to take place.
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Murugan Raj Rajathurai said increased budget allocations must also be expedited to solve various problems that have been plaguing the public healthcare service.
"It is on our wishlist. We have asked for increased public healthcare spending to be five per cent of GDP.
"We hope it can be done faster, we need the extra budget to resolve contract doctor issues, afford universal healthcare and upgrade healthcare facilities in rural areas, especially in Sabah and Sarawak," he said after attending the Kedah Doctor's Day ceremony at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah here today.
Also present was State Health Director, Dr Othman Warijo.
He cautioned that if such funding is not made sooner, the nation could face a worrying shortage of specialist doctors.
"We need these funds to train doctors in specialist training programmes and we will be stuck if we don't address it now," he added.
He also argued that the government's budget plans should consider measures to curb the impact of future viral outbreaks.
"We want to make sure that if there is another pandemic next time, the country will be ready to address it properly.
"Because what happened previously was unprecedentedly bad. If it happens again, we will face the same issues as we did, economic crash and people's health being at stake.
"So like every other country, the prime minister should prepare for the event of another pandemic," he added.
Meanwhile, he said the MMA is looking forward to engaging with the new Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
"MMA is confident that Dr Zaliha will do a great job in her new role and that she will be actively engaging with us to exchange ideas as we have done with previous health ministers," he said.
Back in August, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin highlighted the need to develop the country's primary care services to address the burgeoning burden of non-communicable diseases, with a commitment to allocate more resources for primary care services.
Khairy said the plans should start with a doubling of Malaysia's total public health spending from the current 2.58 per cent of GDP (in 2020) to five per cent of GDP as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
According to the manifesto laid out by the parties within the current unity government, Barisan Nasional has promised to double the annual public healthcare allocation from RM36 billion to RM77 billion by 2027 whilst Pakatan Harapan aimed to increase the expenditure in five years' time.