LETTER | The Citizens' Health Initiative (CHI) met with the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) on Aug 13 to present the way forward for healthcare in Malaysia.

The topics that were addressed included an affirmation of the principle of universal healthcare (UHC) that ensures equitable access to quality healthcare that is not dependent on the people's ability to pay, nor is restricted by geographical location.

The key recommendations by the CHI are as follow:

Strengthen prevention, primary care and public hospitals to ensure universal health care with equitable access to quality healthcare,

Maintain tax-revenue financed system with better incentives for healthcare providers to stay in public service to reduce escalation of healthcare costs associated with health insurance systems while ensuring sustainable financing over the long term;

Voluntary Health Insurance, even if supposedly leading to a Social Health Insurance scheme, will be a retrogressive step as Malaysia has an excellent, long-established tax-revenue financed public healthcare system; and

Healthcare system reforms should focus primarily on improving healthcare while ensuring greater cost-effectiveness and equity.

Healthcare is well-known as a sector that is fraught with market failures in delivery as well as financing.

The CHI proposals emphasise that healthcare reforms in Malaysia must retain a provider role as well as a financing role for the government in moving towards an integrated, pluralistic system of public and private sector providers.

CITIZENS' HEALTH INITIATIVE is an informal grouping of organisations and individuals seeking to promote greater community involvement in healthcare reforms and more generally in matters of health policy.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.