Return to form: Dr Dzulkefly (second from left) attending his first address at the Health Ministry’s monthly assembly in Putrajaya, along with other employees of the ministry. — Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: Electronic medical records (EMRs), digitalising healthcare, health financing reforms and upgrading dilapidated facilities are among Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad’s priorities as he returns to helm the Health Ministry.
In his first address at the ministry’s monthly assembly yesterday, he noted the shortage of positions for healthcare workers, which he described as a “chronic” and “perennial” issue.
Apart from that, the state of healthcare infrastructure and facilities, including IT systems, also required his attention, he added.
“The EMR is my baby, which I have to revisit immediately. Seriously, it is not just about IT and the Health Ministry’s Hospital Information System, it is our ambition to have one patient, one record and a seamless connection between all facilities.
“Eventually, we will allow a patient to only be asked a question once because the Patient Master Index will be accessible to any physicians or doctors attending to the patient because we have National Electronic Medical Records for the entire country.
“God willing, we hope to achieve this in the remaining four years (of the government’s term),” Dr Dzulkefly said while asking ministry’s officials for their support.
He said health financing reform was also important to ensure that spending was prudent.
“If we are going to simply tap from the consolidated fund, it will be a great burden on the country’s finances and widen the fiscal deficit. Hence, we have to be prudent.
“We have inefficient spending in terms of out-of-pocket expenses to the tune of 32%. This is very inefficient spending,” he said, adding that not much is being done to pool funding resources to finance healthcare.
“There are two keywords which are key to financing reforms, which are ‘pooled’ and ‘prepaid.’
“It is important to understand the mechanics to pool funds to form a single (funding) system that will allow us to purchase services strategically for both private and public (healthcare),” the minister added.
However, Dr Dzulkefly noted that this may not be an easy journey and will likely be complicated.
“I cannot promise that it can be implemented in the near future. It requires the buy-in of the top management of the Health Ministry,” he added.
He also said there cannot be piecemeal solutions to the problem, adding that without solutions, the ministry will be trapped in the same cycle.
He added that the government has agreed to provide an additional RM30mil for the Madani Afiat initiative.
Dr Dzulkefly served as Health Minister in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan administration from 2018 to 2020.
He now replaces Dr Zaliha Mustafa who has been appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department overseeing the Federal Territories.
Dr Dzulkefly pledged to continue Dr Zaliha’s good work such as the Madani Health Scheme, just like how she had continued the Peka B40 initiative that he had started.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Zaliha for her service and leadership, which I think she has done really well.”
He also defended her against criticism on social media, saying that as first-term policy makers, they had a steep learning curve when it came to leading senior ministries such as health and education.
“Their performance must be judged based on the big responsibilities they have to shoulder. I am not giving any excuses. But we must be fair in giving assessments, comments and criticism,” he said.
