Healthcare prevention, manpower must get bigger share in Budget 2027, say experts
PETALING JAYA: Health and economics experts are calling on the government to put more money into disease prevention, primary care and healthcare manpower in Budget 2027. They say this is needed to deal with the rising toll of non-communicable diseases (NCD) and to get ready for a greying population.
Taylor’s Business School economist Prof Dr Poon Wai Ching said the healthcare system should shift from a treatment-oriented model towards prevention, stronger primary care, chronic disease management and community-based healthy ageing.
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She said greater investment in early intervention could prevent diseases from progressing, reducing complications and avoidable hospital admissions while easing pressure on the healthcare system.
“Healthcare budgets should increasingly be outcome-based,” she said, adding that spending should be assessed based on outcomes such as waiting times, access to care, disease control, avoidable hospitalisation, healthy life expectancy, independent ageing and patients’ out-of-pocket costs.
Poon added that the objective should be to ensure Malaysians not only live longer, but also remain healthy and independent for longer without facing financial hardship when healthcare is needed.
She also called for more sustainable healthcare financing through stronger risk pooling, targeted subsidies and more efficient public-private purchasing, rather than relying solely on increased government expenditure.
Financial protection should also be strengthened for households, particularly for essential medicines, chronic disease treatment and long-term care, while avoiding blanket subsidies that could place an unsustainable burden on public finances.
Poon emphasised that Budget 2027 should recognise ageing as more than a healthcare issue by building an “ageing well” economy involving preventive healthcare, primary care, rehabilitation, digital monitoring, home care, professional caregivers and community support.
She also said integrating healthcare with Malaysia’s emerging care economy could help address rising healthcare costs and family caregiving burdens while allowing older Malaysians to remain healthy, independent and socially engaged for longer.
Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia public health specialist Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh said NCDs should be a key focus of Budget 2027, particularly heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension and cancer.
She explained that risk factors need to be managed more effectively through primary care and public health programmes before illnesses become severe enough to require hospitalisation.
“Better treatment, detection and drugs are the mainstay, but the human resources to manage them must be made available.”
She said a lack of treatment capacity and specialists could result in patients facing lengthy waiting times, particularly for procedures and specialised treatment.
She cited cardiovascular disease as an example, noting that insufficient treatment centres and specialists such as cardiologists could delay procedures and contribute to patients succumbing earlier to cardiovascular-related deaths.
“If these basic components are not prepared, then cases would stack up and we are not able to manage them properly.”
Sharifa Ezat also said almost all areas of Malaysia’s public healthcare system are under strain, despite efforts by the Health Ministry to maintain services with available resources.
She said Malaysia spends less than 5% of its GDP on healthcare and argued that spending could be increased in line with other developing countries.
She stressed that the funding gap could affect public health programmes, primary care services, clinic infrastructure and access to essential medicines.
She also said while Malaysia has built many hospitals, infrastructure alone would not ensure an efficient healthcare system without sufficient manpower, assets and expertise.
She called for more strategic human resource planning, including appropriate doctor and nurse-to-population ratios, better remuneration as well as improved working conditions.
Sharifa Ezat said healthcare workers need stronger retention measures as burnout and staff departures could increase the workload and strain on remaining personnel.
