The state of primary healthcare in Malaysia

This filepic shows a dentist checking her patient inside a mobile dental clinic in Terengganu, assisted by a nurse. THe Government provides mobile clinics to help serve rural areas with no permanent clinic.

Primary healthcare (PHC) is defined as “essential healthcare based on practical, scientifically sound, and socially acceptable methods and technology, made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford.

“It is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing healthcare as close as possible to where people live and work, and constitutes the first elements of a continuing healthcare process.”