Chua: Who said it would begin in 2006?

The proposed National Health Financing Scheme will probably be modelled after the EPF and SOCSO schemes with contributors making monthly payments through salary deductions, according to Health Minister Chua. He also questioned NGOs for allegedly suggesting that the new scheme would be implemented in 2006.

The following report was published in The Star.

The Star Online > Nation

Wednesday December 14, 2005

Health plan to be modelled after Socso

KUALA KANGSAR: The proposed National Health Financing Scheme (NHFS) is likely to be modelled after the EPF and Socso schemes in which “eligible” employees make monthly payments through a deduction from the salary.

An expert was now determining the category of people who would be required to make contributions, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said.

“Will it be those earning RM3,000 or RM5,000 monthly who will be designated as people who can afford to pay? The details are being determined by the expert, who will study all the implications.”

HEALTH CHECK: Dr Chua, accompanied by state Health, Science and Environment committee chairman Datuk Tan Chin Meng (on his right) and hospital director Dr Krishna Kumar (extreme left) chatting with Rahimah Mohd Zin at the Kuala Kangsar Hospital Tuesday.

He stressed that not all Malaysians need to pay for medical expenses, as the scheme was not a privatisation move.

Speaking to reporters yesterday after visiting Kuala Kangsar Hospital, Chua said he did not know how some non-governmental organisations, which had criticised the scheme, had gotten the idea that it would take off next year.

“The scheme is still being discussed. Who says it will be carried out in 2006?” he asked.

Defending the scheme, Dr Chua said it was high time that the existing healthcare system provided at government hospitals be revamped as it was being abused by those who could actually afford to pay for their medical expenses.

“There is no other system in the world like what we have here in Malaysia, where a patient just pays RM1,” he said.

A group called the Coalition Against Healthcare Privatisation had noted that the Government had yet to reveal details like the quantum of payment, although the scheme would cover everyone (except civil servants, the disabled and the poor).

Earlier, addressing doctors, nurses and staff of the hospital, Dr Chua said the Government's healthcare expenditure was expected to rise to RM10bil by 2010.

“We can’t go on with the present system as it won’t be sustainable,” he said, adding that medicines alone had cost the Government RM800mil this year compared with RM300mil about 10 years ago.