HEALTH Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said there is a need to re-examine the Health Ministry’s role in public healthcare as it holds too much centralised power.

“We have to look at the role of the MOH itself. Our MOH has a very unique structure, many other countries do not have the kind of MOH that we have,” Khairy said at the Health Policy Summit 2022, held at the World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

“We are the biggest payer, the biggest provider, and the only regulator (of healthcare in Malaysia),” the health minister was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

The summit was also attended by former health minister Dr S Subramaniam, Axiata Group chairperson Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, and Sunway University’s Sunway Centre for Planetary Health executive director Dr Jemilah Mahmood.

While a centralised system has its advantages, its disadvantages are also glaring, Khairy said.

“It has its advantages obviously. As Subramaniam said, if you want things done yesterday, you just send a circular and it’s done.”

“But there are also disadvantages to this leviathan. It becomes difficult to deliver services because you’re conflicted in many ways.”

“You pay, you provide, you regulate yourself, and there is a risk of over-bureaucratisation and increased administrative costs,” he said.

In line with decentralising, Khairy proposed that larger hospitals under the MOH’s purview be given more autonomy and have their own board and a chief executive officer.

Another suggestion he made was to set up an entity to perform regulatory functions to free MOH of this role. – August 16, 2022.