Do not kill off Malaysia’s GPs

MALAYSIA’S general practitioner (GP) system of one-stop primary healthcare delivery by independent solo practitioners is the cheapest and the one of best in the region. Indeed, one solo practitioner in his/her clinic is able to cater to the immediate medical needs of thousands of patients in the community. This is the most robust, cost-effective system and it has been shown to increase the productivity of our public healthcare workforce.

As far back as 1986, a study by the Health Ministry (MOH) showed that the cost of per patient-doctor encounter in a private GP clinic, at RM28 per patient at the time, was way below that in the government clinic, at RM56 per patient. This finding will be no different today.