THE government must prioritise healthcare in the upcoming Budget 2022 as the Covid-19 epidemic has exposed weaknesses in its delivery, Dr Kuljit Singh said.

The Association Private Hospitals Malaysia president stressed that it must strengthen that area so that citizens will be able to receive medical treatment and care on time.

“We urge the finance Minister to give special focus to healthcare in Budget 2022 as Covid-19 has helped us understand some of our weaknesses in its delivery and perhaps increase the healthcare budget to 5% of the GDP (gross domestic product),” he said.

“Although it was never expected to have a pandemic of this magnitude in the country and worldwide, some preparation for infectious diseases should be now budgeted and planned forward.”

Budget 2022 will be tabled in Parliament on October 29 by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

Previously, Tengku Zafrul said the national recovery plan and Budget 2022 will form the building blocks for Malaysia’s recovery.

Kuljit said private hospitals in the Klang Valley have treated more than 3,500 non-Covid-19 patients from government hospitals and this is ongoing in other parts of the country such as Penang, Johor and Sarawak.

He said private hospitals are willing to accept such patients up to next year, but urged for a larger allocation in the budget for this as well.

“The model has worked well so far, and we urge the government to have a budget for this exercise for 2022 with reasonable reimbursement, which will save the government billions of ringgit in building new facilities,” he said.

“Once the long list of cases is settled, then the usual services can commence, but we are happy to assist the Health Ministry any time.” – October 25, 2021.