HEALTHCARE has become part of our daily lives, but the perception seems to be shifting towards wellness rather than the containment of disease.

Innovative ways to improve the accessibility of our public healthcare system need to be explored to meet the challenge of the rising cost of living, reducing inequality and striving for a more inclusive society.

Should transitional care facilities (TCFs) be considered?

According to the Health Ministry (MOH) Annual Report 2021, it has increased the number of hospitals from 144 in 2016 to 146 in 2021.

The report added that the additional facilities were new specialised centres.

Recently, Hospital Cyberjaya has started operations. The number of MOH hospital beds also increased steadily before Covid-19 pandemic, from 41,995 in 2016 to 42,936 in 2019.

However, following the Covid-19 pandemic, the waiting time for admission became an issue again.

The trend in public healthcare is towards an increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and an ageing population, but the problem of bed shortages seems never-ending.

Should we consider TCFs? They can accommodate medically stable patients from public hospitals, while they await transfer to intermediate or long-term care facilities, or while their discharge plans are finalised.

They can be funded either entirely by the government or through public-private partnerships.

Time for regulated home care

Based on the trends mentioned above, home care for the elderly may become necessary in the future but it is not yet popular in Malaysia.

It is important for the government to start regulated home care services and not wait for serious incidents or tragedies to happen. This will help us prepare for an ageing nation by 2030.

Home care, like care centres and childcare facilities, requires staff training and quality assurance, as well as attention to staff welfare.

With the much-needed focus on disease prevention, such as health and lifestyle awareness programmes, and digital transformation (eg MySejahtera becoming a health super app), the government will also need to pay attention to home care services, care centres and child care facilities.

Extend secondary and tertiary health care to the least developed regions

Secondary and tertiary healthcare usually refers to specialists. In recent years, public hospitals, especially university hospitals, have established their own private specialist wings.

This has raised concerns that they are commercialising and competing with private hospitals.

Is this really a bad choice? Not necessarily.

Citizens can choose to access secondary and tertiary healthcare at a more affordable price than the private hospitals. Different prices for services could also complement the private providers, targeting different needs and different income groups.

It is time to extend secondary and tertiary healthcare services to the least developed regions such as the east coast, the southern peninsula and east Malaysia to meet local needs.

People have a right to health, it is a matter of public interest.

I hope the government, especially the MOH, could take the lead in providing access and never put profit or commercial interest ahead of health needs. Even a public-private partnership should not act otherwise. – March 13, 2023.

* Nick Tan Beng Teong graduated with Bachelor of Economics at University of Malaya. A member of Agora Society, Tan believes in policy reforms in order to build a better nation.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.