Health Commission needs to be established - experts
Health Ministry former deputy director-general (Medical), Dr Azman Abu Bakar said such a commission should be responsible and accountable to Parliament.
“We can move faster as there is no red tape.
“My hope is that the health commission will not be totally...
A health commission needs to be established to enable access to funds, reduce bureaucracy and address the poor distribution and remuneration of health practitioners, health experts declared.
Health Ministry former deputy director-general (Medical), Dr Azman Abu Bakar said such a commission should be responsible and accountable to Parliament.
“We can move faster as there is no red tape.
“My hope is that the health commission will not be totally detached from the Public Service Department (PSD) but given autonomy to make some decisions as an advisor in terms of government directions and policies,” he said.
Azman was a panel speaker on the second day of the Health Policy Summit 2022 yesterday.
He also said medical practitioners need to be bold to think out of the box so that their concerns on human resource issues in the health services can be heard.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (above) echoed Azman on the commission’s establishment.
She said that training personnel is important to fill in gaps in the current system.
“We need to increase the number and quality (of health personnel), and a system put in place as the current state of training is fragmented and can be improved in substantial ways, especially funding,” she said.
On the proposed health commission, Adeeba also said it should have a high-level committee chaired by a minister or even the prime minister, as Indonesia does with its president as the chair.
“We definitely need to be out of the PSD as the system doesn’t allocate appropriate pay remuneration. It’s not just doctors but also nurses who are in worse conditions.
“We need to alleviate this situation as health is a service industry which requires the best people because they’re dealing with lives,” she said.
Adeeba also noted the poor distribution of public and private health service providers as 70 to 80 percent of the healthcare burden in Malaysia is borne by public healthcare facilities.
- Bernama
