KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Malaysia will expand its “pro-health” tax beyond sugary products to include tobacco, vapes, and alcohol, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced today as part of healthcare reforms in the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK13).
While tabling the plan in Parliament, Anwar said the tax expansion is intended not just to boost government revenue but, more importantly, to encourage a behavioural shift and curb the worrying increase of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.
NCDs, often linked to unhealthy lifestyles, include diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer.
Anwar said healthcare as a government priority, noting that the public system is increasingly burdened by medical inflation, a rise in both communicable and NCDs, and an ageing population.
The reforms aim to ensure sustainable funding and wider access to quality, affordable healthcare, he said.
He said the local manufacturing of medicine will be encouraged, while both public and private healthcare sectors would increase the use of generic medicine, in order to ensure availability.
With the 13MP allocating RM40 billion from the government for the healthcare sector over the next five years, Anwar said this will help reduce Malaysians’ “out of pocket expenses” when obtaining healthcare services.
Among other things, Anwar said efforts will be made to retain talents within the public healthcare sector, including pre-service training, licensing and registration, intake, placement and career development.
He said the management of health records will also be strengthened as a core of the digitalising of Malaysia’s healthcare system.
This would contribute to the generation of high-impact health analytics enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) as part of efforts to enhance the quality of healthcare provided to Malaysians, he explained.
He said the government would also carry out more projects to build and upgrade government clinics and public hospitals, including Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar 2 in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan; Hospital Sultanah Aminah 2 in Johor Bahru, Johor; the Northern Region Cancer Centre at Sungai Petani, Kedah; the Sabah Heart Centre at Hospital Queen Elizabeth II at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah; and the Sarawak Cancer Centre.
