THE Ministry of Health is transforming the national health system from sick care to healthcare, Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said yesterday.

Like the saying “prevention is better than cure”, he said this transformation was important to empower disease-prevention, encourage healthy lifestyles, improve health screenings and primary health services.

He said the process would also encourage the expansion of digital health records and the use of the latest technology in the health sector.

“This means we want to keep Malaysians healthy always. Every year, nearly 1 million people fall sick, either with diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol or various other diseases.

“As such, the health white paper becomes an important policy document that will recommend reforms of the national healthcare system in phases for the next 15 years,” he said in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.

Khairy said a healthcare reform commission will be established to monitor the implementation of the white paper, and ministry functions will become more efficient and effective, including the improvement of human resource planning.

He said 14 health clinics will be built in Sabah and 16 in Sarawak, costing a combined RM1.5 billion.

“The ministry also aims to upgrade six non-specialist hospitals – three each in Sabah and Sarawak – into minor specialist hospitals,” he said.

Meanwhile, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the public dialogue session on the white paper facilitated ideas from various levels of the health sector so that the healthcare system could be improved.

He said the system in Sabah and Sarawak really needed more attention.

“It was a good session, we could talk from top to bottom to get a solid paper and the best way to build the best healthcare system so that, if faced with a pandemic or disaster, we can manage it well,” he said. – Bernama, September 10, 2022.