Budget 2026: MMA Proposes Raising Public Healthcare Spending To Five Per Cent Of GDP

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has called on the government to raise public healthcare spending from 2.4 per cent to five per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Budget 2026, as a long-term investment in the nation's health system.

Its president, Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo, said to fund the healthcare financing, MMA proposed removing the sugar subsidy and expanding the sugar tax on sugary drinks, with revenues ringfenced for the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) use.

“This not only discourages unhealthy consumption, but also channels resources directly into strengthening healthcare,” he said in a statement today.

Dr Thirunavukarasu said the most urgent priority for Budget 2026 was addressing the severe shortages and retention issues in the public healthcare workforce, as the best policies could not be delivered effectively without a strong workforce. 

He said the association welcomed the government’s commitment to abolish the contract doctor system, and urged that all remaining contract doctors be absorbed into permanent positions, while greater support should be given to postgraduate training through both the master's and parallel pathways.

He said, MMA also urged the government to look into the doctors’ on-call allowances, which remained outdated at RM9.16 per hour, and proposed the establishment of a national dashboard to map healthcare workers and services nationwide to ensure transparency and equitable distribution of resources.

Apart from that, Dr Thirunavukarasu said MMA called for stronger non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevention via screenings at private clinics, outsourcing national health checks, and increasing mental health support. 

He said to reduce health risks, MMA recommended clearer food labelling, tax relief for healthy lifestyles, and boosting the Madani Medical Scheme to RM150 million.

He said MMA also suggested that digitalisation to be made a cornerstone of healthcare reform, including the standardisation of patient ID stickers nationwide to reduce errors, while the MySejahtera app should be enhanced to also serve as a platform to map participating private general practitioners' clinics.

 Besides the workforce, NCD and digitalisation concerns, Dr Thirunavukarasu said Budget 2026, to be tabled Oct 10, must start preparing for elderly care, in which its cost was projected to reach RM21 billion or 1.08 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2040.

“We urge greater investment in home care services to keep seniors healthy within their communities, reducing unnecessary hospital admissions. We need more geriatricians, palliative care specialists, and allied health professionals, while hospitals and clinics should be upgraded with age-friendly facilities,” he said.

MMA also proposed incentivising private hospitals to lend diagnostic equipment after hours and formalising GP–health clinic–hospital cluster integration, citing the success of past pandemic collaborations.

-- BERNAMA