Healthcare providers, don't be shy, ask for more money if the need arises

The budget should focus on reinforcing and building up healthcare assets for the long-term, including addressing the fact that we need more healthcare workers. — AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

I’m no health economist, neither do I have access to national health expenditure budgets and data, but it was somewhat surprising that many health services are facing significant budget cuts under Budget 2021.

Usually, budgets are made based on previous years’ spending, and it would be odd if an allocation for a service is cut despite significant usage. However, I don’t have that data, so I don’t know. What I do know is that many elective healthcare services have been disrupted during this pandemic. I believe this means the budget allocated for these services would not have been used, and with the rising Covid-19 expense, the government would probably have transferred the money from those services to support pandemic efforts instead. However, I hope the government realises that those disrupted services are still wanted and needed by many, and we will have to provide them, just at a later time..