Published: Friday February 3, 2012 MYT 9:49:00 PM

Health D-G: 1Care won't burden public

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has given an assurance that the 1Care 1Malaysia health concept would not burden the public with undue costs.

Director-general Datuk Seri Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said discussions and consultations on the types of financial arrangement and implication to the Government, taxpayers and individuals were ongoing to propose an acceptable healthcare financing model.

"Thus, any assumption or conjecture on the mode of financial impact for the individual tax payer is very premature at this stage, as discussions are being held at the moment to ensure a positive and workable model," he said in a statement here Friday.

The health concept was first presented by the ministry to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and members of the Economic Council on Aug 11, 2009.

Dr Hasan said the reality in today's environment was that healthcare costs would continue to spiral upwards and the ministry was taking pro-active steps to ensure the nation and its citizens were taken care of, without being unduly burdened with rising costs.

"Thus, the idea for the proposed 1Care 1Malaysia was born with the vision to give all Malaysians comprehensive coverage, as well as high quality care."

He said everyone would have more choice for high quality healthcare and the public would be able to choose their own family doctor.

Dr Hasan said the ministry had drafted a concept paper and formed 11 key technical groups and committees to come up with the best solution on the proposed 1Care 1Malaysia concept. - Bernama

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