A significant announcement was the end of universal and nearly free healthcare for all citizens.

Dec 11 – THE Health Ministry has been allocated RM45.3bil, the second highest under Budget 2025, an increase from the RM41.2bil allocated under Budget 2024.

As part of the government’s’ war on sugar’, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also announced that excise duties on sugar-sweetened beverages will be raised by 40 sen per litre starting Jan 1, 2025.

The funds collected from the excise duties are meant to be used for the treatment and procurement of medicine supplies.

A total of RM1.35 billion is allocated to upgrade dilapidated healthcare facilities, including rundown wards and toilets, and RM300 million for upgrades and repairs to dilapidated clinics.

Meanwhile, RM25mil will be set aside for the Rakan KKM programme to be conducted at five hospitals that are in high demand.

Aside from that, RM100 million was allocated to healthcare facilities that serve as centres of excellence, such as Serdang Hospital, National Cancer Institute, and Kuala Lumpur Hospital, among others. The government has also allocated RM25 million for rare disease treatments.

A significant announcement in Budget 2025 was the end of universal and nearly free health care for all citizens, as the government seeks to have targeted subsidies for healthcare.

There were no specific details, however, of how much more the top 15 per cent (T15) of income earners would be required to pay to access healthcare at public healthcare facilities under the MOH beyond the current RM1 and RM5 fees for outpatient and specialist care, respectively.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

In managing the expectations of the rakyat when it comes to healthcare, it was announced that existing patients can continue treatment at the National Heart Institute (IJN) and those aged 65 years and older, particularly, can stay at IJN.

It is to be noted that so far this year, IJN has discharged about 4,000 government patients covered by MOH from outpatient services. Many government pensioners have complained about their discharge from IJN and referrals to public hospitals.

As for tax reliefs for medical expenses for individuals, the following measures have been proposed in Budget 2025

• Expansion of the relief to cover diagnostic tests and purchase of health check devices and test kits.

• Individual income tax reliefs for payment of medical and education insurance premiums increased to RM4,000.

• Individual income tax reliefs for medical expenditures up to RM10,000 also cover medical payments for medical and health insurance/ takaful with copayment features.

Malaysia’s medium-term health expenditure growth is among the fastest in ASEAN. The ageing population, the growing burden of chronic diseases, and efforts to enhance public health infrastructure and improve access for underserved communities are driving public sector growth.

Private healthcare providers will continue to attract patients with higher incomes, including medical tourists and domestic patients looking to avoid long waiting times amid Malaysia’s shortage of physicians and nurses.

Malaysia’s high single-digit expenditure growth will see it outpace regional peers such as Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia over the medium term.

Additionally, annual per capita health expenditure remains above global and emerging market averages, indicating a solid capacity for spending on advanced medical products.

Malaysia will continue developing its healthcare offering to attract medical tourists but will face regional solid competition from Thailand and Singapore.

ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION

Malaysia remains an attractive destination for foreign healthcare patients with its availability of high-quality healthcare facilities equipped with modern medical products alongside cost-effective healthcare.

In February 2024, KPJ Healthcare, which operates 29 hospitals in Malaysia, announced that two of its hospitals had joined the Mayo Clinic care network.

The collaboration will enhance the healthcare services provided by the hospitals by leveraging Mayo Clinic’s knowledge and expertise. It will help to attract patients seeking advanced medical care, supporting demand for healthcare services and medical products.

Hospitals will use digital health tools to promote individualised care through Mayo Clinic’s point-of-care database, which includes clinical information on medical conditions.

At the same time, physicians will be able to use live video conferences to discuss cases with other doctors in the Mayo Clinic network.

This latest partnership follows one signed between private companies Sunway Healthcare Group, which is based in Malaysia, and PT JCB International Indonesia, a subsidiary of JCB International, in January 2024 to attract medical tourists from Indonesia.

We expect partnerships will remain a feature of Malaysia’s efforts to enhance its medical tourism industry as it seeks to stay competitive amid solid regional competition.

Competition is coming from markets such as Thailand and Singapore. Medical tourists from both developed and emerging markets visit Singapore for a range of health services, including health screenings, cardiology and oncology services and orthopaedic procedures.

However, Singapore may increasingly struggle to compete with Malaysia and Thailand in terms of offering affordable costs for specific procedures. It could increasingly target patients seeking more complicated procedures or those from developed markets with higher incomes as a result.

Thailand recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia to attract medical tourists.

DEVELOPED MARKETS

At the same time, the Thai government also relaxed medical visas in 2023 to make healthcare more accessible for international patients, reducing the cost of visas and increasing the amount of time patients can remain in the country.

Creating a more inclusive healthcare system through improving system access in rural parts of the country and integrating digital health remains a priority, and measures to this end were announced in Budget 2025.

Malaysia will continue to address accessibility challenges in rural areas with the government’s 2025 budget highlighting investments in health facilities, including expanding hospitals and building new health clinics to increase capacity and reduce overcrowding.

Digital health tools will continue to play a critical role in addressing Malaysia’s urban-rural disparities. In May 2024, broadband provider MEASAT and Malaysia-based health technology company Mudah Healthtech announced an MoU to introduce 2,000 Sihat Xpress telehealth kiosks to rural doctors.

The kiosks will enable doctors to conduct online consultations with patients for non-urgent medical issues, as well as health checks such as body temperature, blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

The government is also aiming for a nationwide rollout of electronic medical records by 2026 in a bid to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system.

Healthcare personnel shortages will continue posing challenges to the healthcare system. Despite Malaysia enhancing its healthcare system, the Malaysian government has yet to meet its target of one doctor to 400 patients, and this will pose the most significant challenge in rural settings.

The country currently has a shortage of physicians and nurses, with the numbers for both below the global median. Malaysia’s personnel shortages are most acute in the public sector, and this will lead to increasing collaboration with the private sector to help address the issue.

Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad recently highlighted that collaborations between the public and private sector will be necessary for overcoming staff shortages, and the Minister has recently supported the signing of an MoU for nursing scholarships that will enhance nursing education in Malaysia. – The HEALTH