Global Health Asia-Pacific Issue 1 | 2023 GHT64B | Page 75

The ageing population requires more healthcare resources .
In a statement published by the Code Blue news portal , Azrul explained that the clinical charges were inadequate for meaningful cost recovery and misled the public regarding the actual cost of healthcare . This is reaffirmed by former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin who stated in a parliamentary sitting last year that the revenue from patient fees covers only one percent of public healthcare expenditures .
Public-private hospitals collaboration High patient congestion at public hospitals , which reached a breaking point during the COVID-19 pandemic , has been managed through the publicprivate partnership ( PPP ) initiative . This coordination involves redistributing public hospital patients so that public hospitals primarily focus on COVID patients while private hospitals handle other cases . Former president of the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia ( APHM ), Dr Jacob Thomas , believes this arrangement should now be a permanent practice . He also proposed implementing the practice of the casemix system that classifies patients according to their treatment and estimated costs , according to Code Blue . This initiative improves collaboration between medical professionals and cost-effectively streamlines patient deployment among public and private hospitals , thereby reducing the public-private hospital gap .
Long-term planning for an ageing nation Malaysia has achieved “ ageing nation ” status , with individuals aged 65 and above making up 7.3 percent of the country ’ s population , according to the latest Economic Outlook Report by the Ministry of Finance . Additionally , the National Healthcare and Morbidity Survey ( NHMS ) 2019 findings indicated that the risk of non-communicable diseases ( NCDs ), such as diabetes and hypertension , increases with age . These reports emphasise the need for sufficient spending to ensure the healthcare sector is adequately equipped and staffed to meet the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases and the rise of an ageing population . In his opening speech at the Health Policy Summit last year , former minister Khairy stressed the urgency of a long-term solution for healthcare funding in which all parties share responsibility for the population ’ s health . “ The various healthcare funding mechanisms in the country need to undergo transformation , including private health insurance , employmentbased health benefits , and government funding for health and social care ,” he said . �n
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