HEALTH MINISTRY SEEKS BIGGER BUDGET
Healthcare must be given priority, says minister
THE Health Ministry will seek a bigger budget to ensure quality services to the people. Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said it was a must for any government to place priority on healthcare, adding that small budgets, which the ministry had been allocated, was an obstacle to the delivery of proper services to the people.
“This is what I will fight for... healthcare affects all.
“The allocation so far is disappointing. As a cabinet minister, I will ensure that proper emphasis is given to allocations as, other than education and development for the people, healthcare is one of the most important issues.
“If the allocation is big enough, we believe the healthcare sector can contribute at least six per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product.
“All this while, it has only contributed about four per cent,” he said in his first press conference as minister after a briefing by the ministry’s senior officers.
Dr Dzulkefly said other areas of priority for him would be the empowerment of healthcare services and security, as well as the welfare and workload of medical professionals.
“All of these are closely related to having a larger budget. Take, for instance, the workload of doctors. With a larger allocation, we can lower the doctor-patient ratio.
“Right now, each doctor roughly takes care of 600 patients. We hope to lower this to a ratio of 1:400 so that more focus and quality healthcare can be provided.”