MOH targets 10 mln Malaysians stay healthy in next 10 years

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MOH) is targeting at least 10 million Malaysians to remain healthy in the next 10 years, its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

He said the target is included in the Health White Paper, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament in December.

It is also among the key areas in the Health White Paper in terms of service quality, he added.

"So the central theme is how we can create a system with quality services and preventive measures to ensure 10 million people remain healthy in the next 10 years.

"We are aiming for that figure because based on our rough estimate, one million Malaysians become sick every year due to many conditions that we can actually avoid," he told a press conference after appearing as a panellist in the Policy Dialogue session entitled The Future of Our Healthcare at the Health Policy Summit 2022 here today.

Elaborating, he said the target meant that 10 million Malaysians would not be referred to hospitals due to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol and so on.

Yesterday, Khairy said the Health White Paper should be the country's collective statement of intent on how it can make the health system more sustainable and resilient through a "whole of government" and "whole of society" mindset.

In the meantime, he said the MOH needs to find funds to finance the proposals presented in the Health White Paper and learn how to manage them appropriately.

He added that the Health White Paper needs to be studied in detail in terms of governance to create measures to ensure that health services can be implemented more efficiently.

"For example, how can we delegate power so that more freedom is given to public hospitals because there is a lot of centralisation of power in the MOH... how can we delegate power, responsibility and accountability to public hospital directors," he said.

Meanwhile, Khairy said he had appointed an advisory council for the Health White Paper, which will be chaired by former Health Minister Tan Sri Dr S. Subramaniam and Axiata Group Bhd chairman Tan Sri Shahril Ridza Ridzuan.

-- BERNAMA