The Health Ministry's decision to postpone the construction of 11 new hospitals was not due to financial reasons, said Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

He said the ministry had instead decided to give priority to other aspects such as training and upgrading of services.

He also said the financial allocation for the Health Ministry was sufficient to meet its operational expenditures and implement development projects this year.

"This year, the government had allocated RM6.4 billion to the Health Ministry and up till May, the ministry had spent RM2.2 billion.

"For development purposes, RM2.6 billion was allocated, of which RM863 million had been spent," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report today.

The minister said this when winding up the debate on the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2004 at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Last week, malaysiakini , quoting an internal ministerial circular, reported that all ministries have been asked to exercise cautioned spending and ensure that the 2004 expenditure remained at 2003 levels.

The directive may result in the Health Ministry needing to reduce its spending by about RM3.8 billion.

The matter was confirmed when Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek said the proposal to build 11 hospitals under the Eight Malaysia Plan was scrapped.

The financial cut irked health experts , who complained that not enough money is being spent on healthcare every year.

One expert, Citizens' Health Initiative coordinator Dr Chan Chee Khoon pointed that government expenditure on public health is at present well below recommended World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, which proposes that governments spend at least five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare.

Foreign doctors

In another development, the Dewan Negara was told today that a total of 700 doctors from 18 countries are serving on contract at government hospitals in the country as of last June 1.

Health Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Lee Kah Choon said 265 of them were from India, 166 from Pakistan, 117 (Egypt) and 75 from Myanmar.

As for the rest, 27 were from Bangladesh, 23 (Indonesia), five each from Iraq and Canada, four each (Singapore and Iran), two (Australia) and one each from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan, Somalia, Mauritius, Philippines and Jordan.

Lee, who was responding to a question from Senator Lim Sing, said the government had taken measures to overcome shortage of doctors in the country, including the hiring of retired government doctors on contract.

He said at present there were 88 doctors serving on such basis.