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Group: Raising healthcare spending will enable private-public collaboration

KUALA LUMPUR: Raising the government's spending on healthcare would enable the private and public sectors to collaborate on promoting health and preventing diseases.

Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh said the bid to raise the government's allocation on healthcare to five per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) could contribute to promotive and preventive care, and private sector could work with the government on this.

"Investment in digital technology using applications on healthy lifestyle intervention would further help people have early access to healthcare screening in private hospitals, and funded by the government.

"Screening centres in private hospitals are well-designed to contribute to preventive healthcare in order to align with the national effort.

"The increased (spending on healthcare relative to) GDP has to be used efficiently so that the people will receive healthcare appropriately with the help of all stakeholders, including the private players," he said in a statement today.

However, he said the proposal of increasing government allocation on healthcare to five per cent of GDP should be done in next year's budget, as the current expenditure on healthcare was no longer viable.

Dr Kuljit added that private hospitals wanted to be thought of as part of the healthcare ecosystem to strengthen primary care and optimise resources.

While private hospitals might not be the main healthcare provider, they could play a role in referral or co-managing the patient, he said.

"Therefore it is important for us to have better access and communication with primary healthcare and public hospitals for a better continuum of care for patients.

"The Health White Paper (HWP) should have clauses to allow reasonable reimbursements to the private sector in order to have the partnership sustainable," he added.

He said the government outsourcing services to private hospitals should be in the HWP instead of changing the current private healthcare system, which largely caters to patients who could afford private care.

"A huge burden on the government is currently managed by private hospitals in managing patients with financial resources, and private healthcare also contributes to the country's income through medical tourism.

"Private hospitals have close to 50 years of experience, and would be happy to guide government hospitals in the process of being autonomous and 'self-sustaining', as suggested by the Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

"Our partnership will not be just confined to treating patients but also in other technical and knowledge sharing of healthcare delivery."

Khairy had recently said the country's spending on healthcare was only 2.59 per cent of GDP.

The low expenditure, he said, had led to the public complaining of long waits to see a doctor or get screenings done.

The benchmark for public health expenditure for upper middle-income nations is between four and five per cent of the GDP.

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