I was puzzled when I read an opinion piece in Free Malaysia Today titled “PSM must pick the right battle on healthcare”.
The author argues that even a party with moral clarity such as the socialist party PSM can sometimes miss the bigger picture, using the party’s recent protest against health tourism as an example.
But is PSM really missing the point – or is it pointing at something the mainstream debate has yet to fully reckon with? The party argues that the growth of healthcare tourism catering to foreign patients risks pulling specialists away from public hospitals.
The author regards this view as simplistic and perhaps a way of avoiding the elephant in the room.
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr R Thirunavukarasu has said the real issue lies within the system itself, pointing to limited career progression, lack of transparency in promotions and unsustainable workloads as the main factors driving doctors away.
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Based on this, fixing the system – rather than restricting doctors’ ability to grow – appears to be the more logical response. But that is only part of the answer.
The Association for Welfare, Community and Dialogue believes the issues affecting healthcare in Malaysia are not merely structural. There are philosophical flaws that need to be addressed.
Healthcare today should not be seen only through the lens of the authorities or the medical profession. It should start from the bottom-up reality, where the experience of ordinary people in hospitals is taken into consideration alongside that of doctors and nurses.
The priority should be to build healthcare around the philosophy of the collective common good. Healthcare is a fundamental human right, rooted in the dignity of the person and the obligation to care for the vulnerable. Adequate healthcare for everyone should not depend on economic status.
The medical context, where people struggle and suffer from various illnesses, should not be a platform for profiteering. This is especially so when access to the best healthcare depends on how much one can pay for critical medical attention. That, in turn, pushes doctors towards becoming more businessmen than genuine healers.
It is in this context that PSM’s views on medical tourism should be understood.
One estimate suggests that for every ringgit spent on medical care, about RM4 flows into the broader economy, including hotels, airlines, restaurants, ground transport and retail. The sector generated RM3.3bn in direct medical revenue last year, with a wider multiplier effect of about RM13bn in total economic activity.
But the question is: who are the actual beneficiaries of this flow? Have our public hospitals benefited from these so-called financial flows, given that doctors have been lured to the private sector?
Structural reforms in Malaysian healthcare are therefore imperative. But they must be built on a sound philosophy rooted in human dignity and social justice.
Without that foundation, the medical profession risks becoming a platform for greed, where medical tourism becomes the priority while the shortage of specialist doctors in our public hospitals goes unaddressed.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
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