Microsoft Word - IJHHS IMAM 23rd ASC 2022


  
 

 S6

PLENARY 2  

 
Financing of Healthcare in Malaysia: Change or Business as Usual?  
Azrul Mohd Khalib1  
  
Internationally, Malaysia's healthcare system has been considered a major success with universal health 
coverage considered to have been achieved since the late 1980s. Most of the population is within 10 
kilometres of a healthcare facility or services which provide degrees of treatment and care, comparable 
to many economies of similar level. However, as the country begins making its transition to a high 
income country, the question is whether the financing for such a system is still fit for purpose, able to 
meet current challenges and needs (e.g. an ongoing non-communicable disease crisis and mental 
health), and most importantly, respond to the emerging threats such as another pandemic on the scale 
of COVID-19 and a growing aging population.   
  
What are the possibilities for financing Malaysia's healthcare system to ensure its resilience and 
sustainability? What could we consider to replace what we have today and not leave vulnerable 
populations behind? Should we disrupt what we have for the promise of better coverage, quality, and 
innovation in preventative health, treatment and care? This discussion will present an alternative model 
for consideration.   
  
Keywords:  
  

1. Healthcare, financing, challenges, pandemic, aging-population   
 

 

 

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Correspondence to: Azrul Mohd Khalib, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Galen Centre for Health 
and Social Policy, Kuala Lumpur. azrul@galencentre.org  

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v7i70.509