KUALA LUMPUR: Do not let spending cuts worsen public healthcare delivery, the Malaysian Medical Association has urged the government.
Its president Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo said a proposed RM3.06bil budget cut for the Health Ministry, representing 6.6% of its operating budget, would be a significant reduction to a system already under severe strain.
“Malaysia is short of nearly 11,000 specialists, while nursing vacancies stand at 18%,” he said in a statement on Thursday (April 30). “Hospitals nationwide are operating at or near full capacity.”
Dr Thirunavukarasu said any spending adjustments must be in administrative areas, without jeopardising medication, hospital maintenance, equipment and staffing.
He also urged the government to honour its decision to exempt healthcare from the civil service hiring freeze.
Earlier, the Finance Ministry issued guidelines to ministries and agencies to reprioritise their operating expenditures following the ongoing global supply challenges and rising subsidy obligations.
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The directive emphasised that these expenditure adjustments will be carried out without compromising critical public services or economic stability.
Dr Thirunavukarasu said public hospitals, which serve 70% of Malaysians, cannot tolerate any further budget cuts.
He cited Hospital Ampang as an example, whose system collapsed for 33 hours last Thursday.
Doctors reportedly said the hospital has not been upgraded since 2007 and was still running on Windows XP, an operating system retired over a decade ago, he said.
“During this time, patient records were inaccessible, blood test results were delayed, and prescriptions could not be processed,” he said, adding that doctors reverted to manual documentation.
“As Malaysia’s national referral centre for haematology, it cares for some of the most vulnerable patients,” he said.
Dr Thirunavukarasu added that four days later, a burst pipe flooded the operating theatre and surgical equipment had to be moved, leaving patients with even longer wait times.
He said the Health and Finance ministries must provide a clear explanation of how this was allowed to happen.
