PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry (MOH) will upgrade all hospital and clinic payment counters throughout the country to accept e-payments fully.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the ministry has 1,300 health clinics and 144 government hospitals nationwide and efforts need to be made to ensure the facitlies are capable of processing cashless payments.

He said last year, 413 ministry facilities were equipped with Point-of-Sale terminals compared to 99 facilities in 2019 to process e-payments with the assistance of RHB Bank Berhad, CIMB Bank, Maybank and Public Bank

"This is a national digitisation effort, we want to reduce the use of cash to lower the risk of spreading viruses or germs," he told reporters after the MyDebit campaign prize-giving ceremony at the Health Ministry here today.

He said efforts to encourage patients to use e-payment methods require the assistance and determination of all ministry employees, especially counter staff.

In addition, Dr Adham urged all state health directors to start the digitisation process by encouraging cashless payments until it becomes the norm at the facilities under their supervision.

"The ministry's goal of inculcating cashless payments will be realised with everyone's cooperation. This step will hopefully reduce the use of cash and increase the efficiency and integrity of the public service," he said.

Regarding the MyDebit campaign, Dr Adham said the use of debit cards in payments for health services showed an increase from 1,841 transactions in early 2020 to 7,217 transactions at the end of the same year.

"I urge all ministry facilities to increase the use of debit or credit cards among patients at payment counters even though the campaign has ended," he said.

-- BERNAMA