HEALTHCARE spending for both public and private healthcare should ideally be at 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told The Malaysian Insight that current spending for the public health sector is at about 2.2% of the GDP.

“Ideally, we (should) have 4% for the public sector and another 2% for the private sector,” he said.

This includes the expenses for Covid-19 care, he added.

Dr Noor Hisham was responding to queries on the ministry’s expectation for Budget 2021 which will be tabled on November 6.

This year, he said the ministry received an extra RM1 billion for human resources allowances, equipment and consumables, in addition to the RM30.6 billion allocation it received under Budget 2020.

Asked if the government will be able to cover the expenses of Covid-19 treatment with the triple digit rise in cases, he said the ministry still has the capacity to handle it.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said in a parliamentary written reply in July that it costs RM18,270 to treat one Covid-19 patient in critical condition. This is typically a patient in Stage 4 or 5 and treatment is for a period of three weeks, working out to RM870 per day.

As of July 10, the ministry had spent RM650 million on the purchase of equipment, medicines, consumables, personal protective equipment, test kits and other services to control the pandemic. – October 30, 2020.