KUALA LUMPUR: The country's health system is plagued by a host of issues and no longer sustainable in facing challenges and crises.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for all quarters, indicating the need for reforms in the national health system to ensure that the health of the people remains intact.
The Health White Paper, which was presented to the cabinet on June 5 and scheduled to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, outlines the main challenges faced by the health system and proposes solutions to ensure a higher-quality, sustainable and resilient health system.
It is a joint effort towards providing a more fair and equitable health service system of high quality, easy to access at a reasonable cost and sustainable in the long term to meet the health needs of the people.
Among the challenges are health financing constraints, a lack of manpower, insufficient equipment and dilapidated buildings, double burden of disease, an ageing population, mental health problems, climate change and deteriorating global health, as well as a lack of emphasis on social determinants of health.
The document, among others, highlights the urgent need for the national health reform, advocating efforts to make the health system more equitable, sustainable and resilient in providing services that include all levels of people's lives.
It proposes priority pillars of health reform such as service delivery and health financing, as well as strengthening the core of the health system and governance within 15 years.
The establishment of an independent and impartial monitoring body to ensure the effective implementation of health reforms is also proposed in the document.
The key aspirations guiding the development of the document include creating a healthy country where the health system focuses on preventive and promotional services so that the people remain healthy and prosperous, a health system to be proud of and valued by all, an equitable and people-centric health system, a resilient health system and an open and innovative health ecosystem.
The Health White Paper was developed by taking into account input and suggestions from all stakeholders, including the Health Ministry and the people, through engagement sessions, as well as findings and recommendations of studies on the health system.
Inputs and suggestions submitted via [email protected] were also taken into account.
The development of the Health White Paper received expert advice and technical inputs from members of the Health White Paper Advisory Council and consulting experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The national health reform will be implemented in phases over 15 years.
Among the benefits of the health reform on the people are:
People have an individual-oriented health plan based on their health or medical needs.
People can get treatment from the same doctor and health team whenever needed. However, people can also choose other doctors and health teams.
People receive guidance and instructions from trained community health teams on ways to stay healthy.
People get better quality health services with shorter waiting time at reasonable prices.
People can access personal medical records online. Medical records can also be accessed by hospitals and clinics across the country for treatment purposes.
People can get health services online for certain conditions.
