Talents needed to sort out issues in healthcare
THERE are major and pressing issues within the Health Ministry (MOH) that need to be addressed, among them the dwindling budget allocation for health (2% of GDP in the public sector), shortage of hospital beds, lack of synergy between the ministry and the private healthcare sector, incessant complaints from junior doctors due to a “toxic MOH work culture”, need to harness the talent pool among healthcare professionals (HCP) to flourish the MOH centres of excellence to mitigate the brain drain, increase the opportunities for medical officers to pursue postgraduate studies, challenges of non-communicable diseases (NCD), the ageing population, plugging leakages in the MOH finances, and the escalating cost of healthcare.
In our humble opinion, an immediate and important task for Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad is to source for wise, experienced and talented persons who will advise him professionally. His team needs to source for the best brains and hearts from the medical fraternity for this national duty.
Just short of a royal commission, he will need to re-examine and re-evaluate the status of the health of Malaysians and the healthcare services currently available for the rakyat.
His advisers will need to report specifically on four areas of concern, namely:
> The existing and future needs for accessible, safe and quality healthcare services;
> Resources required to actualise these services;
> Make recommendations to the minister of the necessary infrastructure, provisions, resources (urgent and important, must have, can wait, can do without); and
> Zero towards the objective of universal health coverage “ensuring that all our rakyat have access to the 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 studies have been carried out to address some or all of these issues. The wise, experienced and eminent persons on the advisory board should collate all of these information and synthesise the road map 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.