The opposition today urged the government to scrap plans to restructure the public healthcare system, insisting that the existing mechanism is still “relatively effective”.

pkr congress pc 271110 syed husin ali Opposition Senator Syed Husin Ali ( left ) said the government intended to moot the National Healthcare Financing Authority (NHFA) in the next “three to five years” - and he is apprehensive about its effective implementation.

“I urge the government to study the proposal in detail because this affects the poor and low income earners. According to the restructure, at the end, healthcare will be privatised,” said Syed Husin.

The government is looking into setting up a health insurance scheme and local primary care trust through the NHFA.

The former PKR deputy president said under the existing system, the costs of healthcare are borne by the government and have been effective in reaching out to the poor, especially in the interiors.

“Through that system patients pay a nominal fee or nothing at all... but through the new system every patient will have to contribute a sum to the health authority and only visit a set of dedicated facilities for treatment,” he said.

He pointed out that the escalating cost of healthcare will “burden” the people who will have to solely bear the costs.

Under the proposed system, it will be mandatory for all earning Malaysians to pay premiums to the NHFA for medical treatment in private and government clinics and hospitals.

azlan However, the suggested mechanism has raised questions as to how those without employment and big families will be able to afford the system.

“The current scheme is already working very well but the amount of allocations to healthcare is only three percent under the (2012) Budget,” said Syed Husin, referring to the RM16.8 billion allocation for the Health Ministry under the budget which is being scrutinised in the senate.

“What we need is an increase in allocation to improve the system rather than restructuring the system and having people to pay when our system is relatively quite good,” he said.

‘High time to review Socso benefits’

Senator S Ramakrishnan instead called for the Social Security Organisation (Socso) to be bolstered as it has remained the same since it was set up in 1969.

“It is high time the government reviews Socso benefits due to the increase in cost of living and encompass a larger group - which has also been the same since 1969 - farmers and fishermen are still not included in the scheme,” he said.

Ramakrishnan added that Malaysia’s counterparts - Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia - have reviewed the countries social security benefits to include those who are self-employed.