The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has dismissed claims circulating on social media that the Ministry of Health is facing a RM3.1 billion operating expenditure cut, clarifying that the proposed spending adjustment is capped at RM500 million.
Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said the adjustment only affects non-critical operating expenditure and does not involve essential spending such as salaries, medical supplies, overtime payments or on-call allowances.
Responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Ir Hasni Mohammad (BN-Simpang Renggam) during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat, Amir Hamzah said the exercise is intended to create fiscal space to partly offset the sharp increase in subsidy spending following the West Asia crisis.
He stressed that healthcare services would not be compromised, noting that the allocation for medicines has been increased to RM6.5 billion under Budget 2026. The ministry also plans to recruit more than 18,000 healthcare workers next year, maintaining the same target as before.
He added that the government remains committed to fiscal discipline as part of its RESET healthcare cost reform agenda, which seeks to manage long-term medical inflation through greater transparency and reforms including diagnosis-related groups.
On the broader Medical and Health Insurance/Takaful (MHIT) initiative, Amir Hamzah said the government has introduced five key measures, including the publication of the MHIT White Paper, treatment cost transparency in private hospitals, a World Bank report on medical inflation, consumer tools to improve insurance decisions and tax incentives for charitable funds established by private hospitals.
He also said a controlled pilot for the MHIT basic plan involving selected insurers, takaful operators and private hospitals in the Klang Valley will begin by the end of July, ahead of a nationwide rollout targeted for January 2027.
