Dzulkefly reassures Dewan Rakyat RM500m savings due to vacancies, not frontline care cuts

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — The RM500 million expenditure restriction warrant imposed on the Ministry of Health (MOH) is a technical adjustment and does not affect the delivery of healthcare services to the public, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said the adjustment involved surplus allocation provided for positions that could not be filled, thereby enabling the government to save RM500 million without affecting the ministry’s operations.

He added that the adjustment did not involve allocations for operations, development, staff allowances, training programmes or the purchase of medical assets, but was instead made through re-planning of expenditure by prioritising the prudent use of financial resources.

“I would like to clarify that this restriction warrant is actually a technical adjustment on the excess allocation and does not include the 18,641 positions that have been approved by the Public Service Department for the MOH this year.

“Even if we offer more than the 18,641 positions, there are no people to fill them. So, that’s where we are able to save RM500 million from the original allocation provided,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a question from Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (BN-Putatan) and supplementary question from Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai) regarding concerns that fiscal adjustments to the ministry would affect healthcare delivery and public health facility development.

Dzulkefly said the restriction warrant issued by the Finance Ministry on June 5 amounted to RM500 million, or about 1.07 per cent of the MOH’s total allocation of nearly RM46.52 billion this year.

In this regard, he said claims that the adjustment would affect services at hospitals, especially in rural areas, were inaccurate as all basic services and health development projects would continue.

In another development, Dzulkefly said the MOH, through the Joint Committee on Private Healthcare Costs (GBMKKS), will introduce a basic health protection plan known as the Base Medical and Health Insurance/Takaful (MHIT) at several hospitals this month to address rising treatment costs and private health insurance premiums, before a full rollout in January 2027.

He said the plan was a basic health coverage that was easier, more affordable and offered important protection to consumers, as well as being among the measures to address the rising cost of private healthcare.

He added that the government is also introducing a Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) payment system as a benchmark to standardise hospital payment systems and charges nationwide, involving public, private, university and military hospitals. — Bernama