No cost-cutting in healthcare

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will not carry out any drastic cost-cutting measures because it needs to maintain the quality of healthcare, said Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai.

However, he said the ministry would be prudent in its spending and cut down on wastage.

“We will come up with measures to cut expenditure but this ministry is about saving lives and there cannot be too much cost-cutting. We need to ensure good quality healthcare delivery system for the people,” said Liow.

Although the Prime Minister had announced that the Government would cut spending, exceptions would be made for education and health, Liow told newsmen after launching the eighth Asia Pacific Congress of cardiovascular and interventional radiology yesterday.

“The ministry will continue to maintain the minimal RM1 for outpatient treatment and RM5 for specialist treatment,” he said, adding that the ministry will maintain its 98% subsidy on healthcare.


High tech: Liow (left) taking a closer look at a Philips utrasound system at an exhibition after opening the 8th Asia Pacific Congress of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said none of the sports projects, including infrastructure development, would be affected by the government’s decision to slash RM800mil of the Ministry’s allocation under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

“Even though we have RM800mil less to spend, the funding for sports has not been reduced,” Khaled told reporters at the official launch of the 14th Asean University Games 2008 here yesterday.

Last week Khaled said the Government would use the savings from the reduced allocation for his Ministry for more urgent matters such as food subsidies.

Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the 10% cut in allocation for the ministry would not affect RTM’s operations.