KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): The Ministry of Health (MOH) has proposed a review on taxes on unhealthy items including cigarettes, alcohol, and sugary drinks with the aim to cultivate a healthier lifestyle for Malaysians.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (June 15) the tax review forms part of the strategy of introducing "incentives" to encourage pro-health practices under the Health White Paper put forward to charter the reformation of Malaysia’s national health system over the next 15 years.

She said the strategy falls under the Health White Paper’s pillar of advancing health promotion and disease prevention, which also comprises strategies of reinforcing the national healthcare system’s preparedness to cope with health crises, as well as inter-sector cooperation between ministries and health-related agencies to more effectively deal with social detriments of health.

Besides this, Dr Zaliha said the national health system reformation plan is backed by another three pillars, namely transformation of the healthcare system’s service, ensuring sustainable and equitable health financing, and strengthening the health system’s foundations and governance.

It is worth noting that under the ensuring sustainable and equitable health financing pillar, Dr Zaliha said the ministry proposes to establish a national social health insurance programme as an option to broaden funding sources to make public healthcare financing more sustainable.

“In terms of public healthcare funding, allocation is still at a low level. Total public healthcare sector expenditure in 2022 stood at 2.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the average public healthcare expenditure of middle-income countries of 4.4% and high-income countries of 6.4%,” she said in tabling the Health White Paper.

“Inadequate public healthcare spending has resulted in constraints for the government to meet human resource, infrastructure, and equipment requirements, including optimising the nation’s health resources in a cost-effective and efficient manner,” she added.

Dr Zaliha added that the public sector’s primary healthcare facilities comprise only 28% of all primary healthcare facilities in Malaysia, but handle almost 64% of outpatient visits. She added this causes facilities and staff in the public healthcare sector to be overburdened, as illustrated during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In search for faster healthcare services, Dr Zaliha said the rakyat has been pushed to the private healthcare sector, which led to Malaysia’s out-of-pocket spending for healthcare sitting at a high level of 34% — versus comparable countries such as Thailand at 9% and Türkiye at 17%.

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