Three images from recent weeks linger in my mind.
The first is from a visit to a public hospital. The waiting room, tucked away from the main building, was a tableau of despair. The poor milled around, looking lost and alienated. Mothers cradled infant children in their arms; the elderly, barely able to walk, leaned heavily on makeshift supports; others sat quietly with bandaged limbs, staring into a hopeless void.
Among them was a friend I had accompanied, who is gradually losing his sight to cataracts. His only hope was to wait – six long months – before he could be treated.
The second image comes from the media: a report about a committee hastily formed to address the rising cost of healthcare insurance. Premiums were projected to soar by a staggering 40-70%. The response from officials was disturbingly cavalier, as if these figures were mere statistics rather than the harbinger of rising financial ruin for countless families.
The third, a chilling parallel to our plight, was a report from the US. It described the American healthcare system as a “wilfully dysfunctional, for-profit system that is literally dead in itself.”
- Sign up for Aliran's free daily email updates or weekly newsletters or both
- Make a one-off donation to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara, CIMB a/c 8004240948
- Make a pledge or schedule an auto donation to Aliran every month or every quarter
- Become an Aliran member
How did we descend into this abyss where one of the most basic human needs – healthcare – has been so profoundly neglected?
Basic government responsibility
Healthcare is a fundamental right, not a privilege. Governments bear the moral and constitutional responsibility to provide healthcare for all illnesses, whether minor or life-threatening.
In Malaysia, our courts have interpreted the constitutional guarantee of the right to life as meaning a life with dignity.
A dignified existence must include access to quality healthcare – timely, affordable and equitable. Delays of six months to remove cataracts diminishes the confidence to live.
Healthcare is not just a service; it is a cornerstone of societal wellbeing. Its importance far surpasses that of defence expenditure on guns, warships or submarines. The only justification for such spending is to safeguard the dignity and security of the people.
Yet, when the same people are left to languish in overcrowded hospital corridors or are forced to delay critical treatments, the government fails in its most fundamental duty.
Woes of privatisation
Since the 1980s, healthcare in Malaysia has increasingly been ceded to private enterprises.
What should have remained a public good – a collective commitment to human wellbeing – has become an arena for profit-making. Privatisation has turned the inevitable vulnerabilities of illness and the frailty of the human body into lucrative opportunities.
The consequences are as predictable as they are tragic.
Private hospitals and insurers prioritise profits, driving up the cost of care. Patients, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, are left with limited options. They endure long waits at public hospitals or pay exorbitant fees at private facilities.
Healthcare has become a tale of two realities. The wealthy receive premium care, while the poor, like my friend with cataracts, wait indefinitely.
The ethos of caregiving is diminished when healthcare becomes a transaction. Profit, not the patient, becomes the centre of the system.
Role of insurance in the crisis
The rise in healthcare insurance costs widens inequalities. Insurance, meant to pool risks and protect the vulnerable, now works against its original intent.
Private insurers increase premiums, deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, and impose complex exclusions, leaving many underinsured or completely uninsured.
Government-run insurance schemes, like Malaysia’s MySalam, are a step in the right direction. However, they remain limited in scope to providing financial aid to certain classes of patients in government hospitals. Without a strong public healthcare infrastructure, such schemes are mere band-aids on a gaping wound.
Nationalising healthcare
The solution lies in reclaiming healthcare as a public good, free from the distortions of the profit motive.
Nationalising healthcare would:
- ensure universal access – Everyone, regardless of income, deserves timely and quality medical care
- control costs – Government-managed healthcare eliminates profit margins, reducing the financial burden on patients
- rebuild trust – A nationalised system can restore compassion and dignity to healthcare, focusing on the patient rather than profits
- improve outcomes – Public systems, when adequately funded and managed, deliver better long-term health outcomes by focusing on prevention and equity
Call to action
The current trajectory is unsustainable. The neglect of public healthcare and the unchecked rise of privatisation breed frustration and resentment.
The recent murder of a healthcare executive in the US is a tragic but telling symptom of a system that has lost its humanity.
Malaysia must act decisively. The government must prioritise the health of the people over profit and private interests.
Mechanisms to integrate private healthcare providers into a unified, public-driven system must be put in place.
Regulatory frameworks must be strengthened to curb exploitative practices.
Above all, the government must remember that healthcare is not an optional service. It is the foundation of a just and equitable society and a constitutional right.
The time for reform is now – before the system’s fractures deepen into unbridgeable divides.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Governments bear the moral and constitutional responsibility to provide healthcare Rightly written by Mr Menon.
Compare LDCs, the America’s, – – – the Malaysian government has been empathic to its people offering consultation, access to the Dr in person and medicines thereafter.
The government could explore raising corporate tax by 50% I. E. if medical insurance lobbyists are lobbying to increase enduser premiums by 40%.
Likewise the government could look at cardiac surgeons who are promised 2 million by the same corporations. Raise taxable incomes over RM 1 by 20% to bring the total tax to a swinging. 40%appx.
Would this motivate the racket then?