KUALA LUMPUR, February 24 – The health sector received the second largest allocation in the 2023 Budget, amounting to RM36.3 billion compared to RM32.4 billion last year, said Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He said the main component of the allocation involved the procurement of medicines, reagents, vaccines and consumables, including an allocation of RM3 billion for new permanent and contract appointments to more than 1,500 medical officers, dental officers and pharmacy officers who had been waiting for a long time.
He said that the allocation was also to solve the issue of overcrowding in government health facilities by outsourcing patients from overcrowded hospitals to other hospitals including university hospitals, military hospitals and private hospitals. In addition, Anwar said, the government will introduce a Civil Medicine Scheme, specifically for the poor to get health treatment at clinics and private general practitioners (GPs) as implemented by the Selangor State Government, with an allocation of RM120 million.
“The government also proposes that welfare hospitals that are registered as Syarikat Berhad According to Jaminan be given an income tax exemption equal to the amount of welfare expenditure. Donors will also get a tax deduction of up to 10 percent,” he said when presenting the 2023 Budget at the Dewan Rakyat, here today. In order to reduce overcrowding at Melaka Hospital, Anwar who is also the Finance Minister said the government will build a women’s and children’s block with a capacity of 476 beds at a cost of almost RM700 million.
According to him, the government will also start preliminary work to upgrade 26 hospitals including the expansion of Kuala Kangsar Hospital in Perak; Jelebu (Nigeri Sembilan) and also Pontian Hospital, Johor which has been almost a century old. In addition, the government provided RM80 million to empower the Health Care Scheme (Peka B40) which was started in 2019 to facilitate screening or early screening especially for the B40 group by making it also include screening for diabetes.
“From assessment year 2023, the tax relief limit on medical treatment expenses will be increased from RM8,000 to RM10,000 and in addition, the scope of this relief is also expanded to cover the cost of rehabilitation of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, Down syndrome and Specific Learning Disabilities,” he said.
