Bank Negara Ignorant Of Healthcare Needs Says Think Tank

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Bank Negara’s suggestions on increasing the number of affordable, mid-tier hospital beds have met with criticism.
PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara has been accused of making unrealistic recommendations on moves to cut healthcare costs and of being ignorant of the reality and challenges faced by the national health system.
Azrul Khalib, chief executive of Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, said Bank Negara’s recent suggestions on increasing the number of affordable, mid-tier hospital beds may not effectively combat rising medical insurance and costs due to a shortage of staff.
“Furthermore, building more not-for-profit hospitals won’t address medical inflation if there aren’t enough skilled workers to staff them,” he told FMT.
Azrul said the focus should be on expanding the healthcare workforce by offering grants, scholarships, and training for specialists, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare roles.
He said many skilled professionals had migrated to countries such as Singapore, Australia, and the United Kingdom for better salaries, improved working conditions, and career development.
Bank Negara’s suggestions on lowering healthcare costs were made in its 2024 annual report released last Monday, in which the central bank called for the health ministry’s “Rakan KKM” programme to be scaled up.
The programme offers “premium economy” services at selected public hospitals for elective outpatient, day care and inpatient services.
However, Azrul said basic details about the initiative were not available. “The public doesn’t have any basic details regarding this programme, other than the number of hospitals involved and that it will be ‘premium economy’ service.”
It was unclear which medical specialties would be involved and whether the programme offers benefits such as faster diagnoses or priority for surgery, he said.
There were also concerns about whether there were enough medical personnel to support the programme without affecting other existing services.
However, Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Dr Kuljit Singh believes “Rakan KKM” can greatly benefit patients with its affordability and accessibility.
He said public hospitals and not-for-profit hospitals are also key in contributing to a more accessible healthcare with options at various tiers for a majority of patients.
Kuljit agreed with Bank Negara’s suggestion of government incentives for the Rakan KKM programme. He said the association was having discussions on what incentives should be provided. - FMT

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