Dei, RM10bil? Are you kidding me?
Malaysia’s current annual health budget of RM10bil is not enough and should be doubled so that the people can enjoy better healthcare. [Source: The Star]
Let's compare with the UK,
Malaysia - RM10bil
UK - £96 billion (2006-07)
UK - £96 billion (2006-07)
[Source: The Star, HM Budget]
And let me tell you this, the people here in the UK is still very unhappy with the INADEQUATE NHS funding. They should really pay a visit to Malaysia since it's Visit Malaysia Year 2007.
Ok maybe we have younger citizens and our population is well below theirs.
Malaysia - 24,385,858 (July 2006 est.)
UK - 60,609,153 (July 2006 est.)
UK - 60,609,153 (July 2006 est.)
[Source: CIA World Factbook]
Also, maybe our income tax rate doesn't quite match.Malaysia:
UK:
Complicated, no? Let's just say most UK residents are within the Basic rate of 22% and most Malaysians are within the RM50000 annual income range, which means around 7%, am I right?
So we have less population and lower income. But that still doesn't make up for the ridiculously low health budget right? I wonder why people in Malaysia don't protest, is it because we have lower need for health benefits? Or the average Malaysian just prefer to buy medical insurance?
Another statement from the same article,
“On one hand, the Government is in charge of building and maintaining public hospitals and, at the same time, the Government, through the Finance Ministry owns a major stake in private hospitals." Dr Jeyakumar said. [Source: The Star]I hope by that he doesn't include in the budget the loss from the Pantai Holdings fiasco last year.
More questions? If the Government owns a major stake in private hospitals, why are the bills there still outrageously high?
References:
- Government needs bigger health budget, The Star, 27 March 2007.
- It's Khazanah, Jeff Ooi, 28 August 2006.
- HM Treasury (2006-03-22). Budget 2006 19. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
- Malaysia, CIA World Factbook.
- United Kingdom, CIA World Factbook.
- Taking the sting out of medical bills, Vasantha Ganesan, Business Times, 10 March 2007.
- Malaysia Income Tax Rate, LHDN Malaysia.
- UK Income Tax Bands, HM Revenue & Customs.
3 comments:
I suppose most of us when sick visit private clinic. Can u imaging waiting for half a day at gov hosp just to see the doc!! By the time your turn cum you r already half death.
Honestly, whenever I'm sick.. I would go to the private clinic. Most of the PTIs would go to govt hospitals. LOL. (mostly lah..)
Hmmm, normally I go under my dad's name, I mean employees in the company gets like medical benefits for the family, which is a good move.
Or rather, a necessity for all firms out there.
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