KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) hoped the Health Ministry would expand the Madani Medical Scheme to include non-communicable disease (NCD) management.
In an immediate response to the 2024 Budget, its president, Dr Azizan Abdul Aziz, said the inclusion of NCD management would encourage higher participation from private general practitioners (GPs) and alleviate overcrowding at public healthcare facilities.
"The well-distributed 13,000 private GPs can also improve access to health services under initiatives like the Madani Medical Scheme," said Dr Azizan in a statement today.
She also called on the government to practise transparency in all initiatives and programmes proposed during the 2024 Budget, including the allocation of funds for diabetes treatment, support for dialysis, and the listing of the 400 dilapidated clinics to be repaired.
"However, our main concern is the issue of human resource planning and development, which isn't satisfactorily addressed in the 2024 Budget," she said in a statement today.
Earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the government had allocated RM41.2 billion for the Health Ministry next year, an increase from RM36.3 billion allocated this year.
He said it was the biggest increase in allocation among ministries.
To address the overcrowding at the ministry's hospitals, Anwar said the government had allocated RM200 million to outsource patients to other hospitals, including military, university and private hospitals.