COMMENT “Health is everything. As such, concerted efforts will be implemented to enhance the health levels of the rakyat and quality of the healthcare in the country.” So said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, during the tabling of Budget 2017.

The ability of the government to deliver on this promise may be jeopardised by the serious reductions in ‘services and supplies’ category of public health and medical care operational expenditure (opex), both of which come under the Health Ministry.

This year, medical care services, which cover hospital supplies, blood transfusion medication and pharmaceutical supplies, suffered a RM589 million allocations cut, dropping by 12.9 percent from RM4.576 billion in 2016 to RM3.987 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, public health allocations fared even worse, falling from RM1.483 billion in 2016 to RM1.245 billion in 2017, percentage-wise amounting to a 16.0 percent reduction.

As the table above shows, budget cuts have been made to almost all items listed under Public Health and Medical Care. Apart from cardiothoracic treatment, expenditure cuts have been made in significant areas such as ‘Pharmacies and Supplies for Public Health’, where opex fell by 11.9 percent; ‘Family Health Development’ (17.9 percent), and Forensic Science, which saw the biggest decrease (56.7 percent).

The anecdotal evidence which has emerged recently, including cases of laboratory tests being suspended and the shortage of medicines, already points to the funding challenges faced by the Health Ministry.

It would not be surprising if further budget cuts in these key areas would lead to more of such cases occurring in 2017.

One division that has experienced worrying cuts in resources is Disease Control, where allocations were reduced by 22.6 percent. Based on the current budget, the division now will receive RM53.1 million less, compared to the previous year. Such cuts will jeopardise the government’s ability to effectively combat the dengue virus which is already at record levels in the urban areas as well as the lurking threat of Zika.