The Prime Minister said the Health Ministry will continue to monitor stock, supply chain and pricing challenges closely to ensure the public is not impacted.
“Whatever challenges may arise, the government will continue to work hard, act with compassion and ensure the well-being of the people remains the nation’s top priority.”
Anwar said despite pressure from global supply chain disruptions and broader economic uncertainty, smallholders will continue receiving targeted aid under the Budi Agri-Commodity initiative.
He said the National Economic Action Council (MTEN) meeting yesterday heard presentations from the Health and the Plantation and Commodities ministries on efforts to address the increasingly pressing global supply chain crisis.
“The government understands the people’s concerns as they face rising cost pressures and uncertainties in the global economy.
“In view of this, the government has agreed to continue the targeted Budi Madani initiative through Budi Agri-Commodity to support smallholders, industry players and vulnerable groups who form the backbone of the nation’s economy,” the Prime Minister said in a social media post.
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir also gave assurance that supply of medicines and medical devices will remain stable, with continuous mitigation measures being implemented, especially for critical and high-risk items.
He said the MTEN meeting also agreed that any cost adjustments would be made in a targeted manner, based on the level of risk and actual needs.
As of May 8, 72% of all recorded medicine items were at a low risk level, 11.3% at a medium level and 16.8% at a high level, he said.
“For medical devices, 81.7% were at a low risk level, 13.5% at a medium risk level while 4.8% were identified as high risk.
“The supply of raw materials and key components is at high risk due to dependence on imported sources,” he said at the Global Supply Crisis briefing.
Akmal Nasrullah said the Health Ministry has been urged to increase efforts to ensure transparency in the prices of medicines sold in pharmacies so that the people would not be burdened by undue price pressure.
He said the ministry had also created a national buffer stock to strengthen medicine stockpile and had diversified supply sources through strategic collaboration with countries such as China, Japan and Uzbekistan.
Another initiative by the Health Ministry is to activate a special access pathway to expedite approval of critical medicine imports and implement local industrial development.
This is to empower local medical device manufacturers to reduce dependence on imported products, Akmal Nasrullah added.
