KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is exploring outsourcing some child health screenings and follow-ups to private general practitioners.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni said this aims to tackle malnutrition and stunting among low-income families.
He said the ministry is reviewing mechanisms to let working parents use nearby GP clinics for mandatory screenings.
Lukanisman said this would reduce reliance on government health facilities.
“We are now studying whether certain services can be outsourced,” he said on Monday (Nov 17).
Lukanisman said this is particularly for parents who cannot bring children for screenings during office hours.
He said allowing GP access could ease care for families living far from government facilities, adding GPs would conduct screenings, advise medically and channel cases needing nutritional aid back to the ministry.
“We are reviewing existing programmes and updating them,” he said.
He said this is to assess whether GPs should assist the ministry in conducting screenings.
He responded to Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN–Paya Besar) in the Dewan Rakyat.
Mohd Shahar said Malaysia risks losing up to 3% of future GDP due to malnutrition, and cited World Bank estimates.
He said many parents in the First 1,000 Days of Life programme miss follow-ups despite stunting being identified.
He added some food basket recipients skip check ups due to work, distance or lack of awareness and urged the ministry to share non-attendance data with local communities to strengthen support.
He said this includes support for poor families and those with special needs children.
To this, Lukanisman said the suggestion is timely and aligns with ongoing reforms.
“This is a good proposal. We will obtain and share relevant data, similar to the Peka B40 programme,” he added.
“We will also work to obtain better data on parents who miss appointments,” said Lukanisman.
He said this would help identify and support them and added the ministry will refine the proposal before presenting an implementation framework.
