KUALA LUMPUR: Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has urged all MPs to support the Health White Paper, which will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on June 14.
“Six townhalls were held across the country involving high-ranking government officials, healthcare workers, academics, NGO, industry players and the public.
“The Health Ministry has collated the inputs on the limitations and proposals that the nation’s healthcare system very much needs,” she said in a Facebook post on Thursday (June 8).
“Therefore, I humbly request all MPs to unanimously support the Health White Paper. Let’s fulfil this for the future of the country’s healthcare,” she said.
Earlier, the Health Minister held a briefing with MPs in Parliament on the tabling of the White Paper, which will among others, detail the reforms to be undertaken for the healthcare system.
“The Health White Paper is the start of the journey towards the reformation of the healthcare system to make it more fair, higher quality and easily accessible at an affordable cost as well as resilient in the long term,” she added.
In a separate post, Dr Zaliha said she had attended a meeting with the parliamentary special select committee for health chaired by former health minister and Kuala Selangor MP Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
“The meeting was held to discuss the tabling of the Health White Paper, which will be tabled in Parliament next week,” she said.
The document will detail the healthcare reforms to be implemented in phases over a period of 15 years.
According to the White Paper’s website, funding constraints, manpower, facilities and equipment shortages, burden of diseases, ageing society, mental health issues, climate change and deterioration of the planet as well as the lack of health social determinants, are among the challenges faced by the healthcare system.
