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Is Malaysia heading toward the US healthcare model? Rising premiums, an ageing population, and more Malaysians becoming uninsurable when care is needed most. Part 1: Why financing is under strain — and the choices ahead.

Sabah's health dept now uses a district illness database to send doctors & gear where clusters flare up first, plus a Cluster Hospital Service merging rural facilities. 📊

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah and federal health departments utilise a district-level illness database to deploy medical staff and machinery across state hospitals

Rakan KKM, the plan for paid fast-track procedures at public hospitals, is still stalled almost 2 years after its Budget 2025 funding — Dzulkefly can't yet give a launch date. 🏥

Dr Dzul says implementation of Rakan KKM, which first received funding under Budget 2025 nearly two years ago, is still stalled due to bureaucracy, without specifying the next target launch date. One of the main hurdles is the ne…

MediAsas is steering Malaysia toward the US model, warns health economist Prof Syed Aljunid — high spend, unaffordable premiums for seniors, more fragmented financing. 🩺

Syed Aljunid slams MediAsas, saying Malaysia is moving in the direction of the US by wrongly using private health insurance as a health financing solution. Introducing MediAsas further breaks up the pool of resources; premiums ar…

Doctors — real-time chat with your colleagues is now better. 💬 Update the DOBBS Community app: chat has been fixed and now scrolls straight to the latest messages. Get or update the app:

🩺 Sabah’s Women & Children’s Hospital has successfully separated conjoined twins — a landmark for complex paediatric surgery and local specialist care in the state.

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah membuktikan negeri ini memiliki kepakaran perubatan bertaraf dunia yang mampu melaksanakan prosedur berisiko tinggi dan amat kompleks kata Timbalan Ketua Menteri II Datuk Seri Mas

⚖️ Malaysian women still face barriers to bodily autonomy: a new SIS Forum study puts Malaysia at just 45% on UNFPA's bodily-autonomy index.

A SIS Forum survey finds that Malaysia scored just 45% on the United Nations Population Fund’s bodily autonomy indicator, short of the global average of 55%.

🩺 MOH's nursing workforce shrank for the first time in 5 years — 1,200 nurses lost since 2023 — even as the ministry faces an 18% vacancy rate.

Besides doctors, MOH's nursing workforce has also declined, losing 1,200 nurses across 2023 and 2024. The private sector gained 5,658 nurses in that two-year period. The 2023 contraction of MOH's nursing workforce was the first i…

🎓 Only 46% of Malaysia's medical officers finish specialist training on schedule, JPA reveals — delays are straining hospital training-reserve posts nationwide.

JPA says only 46% of doctors complete specialisation on time, thus delaying specialty training for others. JPA also approved over 66,000 new positions without trade-offs for MOH from 2019. The issue now is workforce distribution,…

The Star: Malaysia's proposed workplace mental health policy is a shift worth getting right — from individual burden to employer responsibility. 🧠

WHILE we're getting better at talking about mental health as a nation, we're still not taking the issue in the workplace seriously enough.

Malaysian doctors are warning World Cup fans not to shrug off lost sleep from late-night kick-offs — sleep debt doesn't fully repay itself with weekend catch-up, says Dr Kuljit Singh. 😴

PETALING JAYA: After five weeks of late nights and mostly 3am kick-offs, one wonders how much sleep FIFA World Cup fans have sacrificed leading up to the final between Spain and Argentina on Oct 20.

Former PM Najib Razak will undergo a procedure next week to remove plaque near a blood vessel, says wife Rosmah, after reports of heart-related complications. 🫀

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is scheduled to undergo a medical procedure next week to remove plaque detected near a blood vessel, according to his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Experts urge Malaysia to prepare early for a Super El Niño peaking Nov–Jan, warning of heat stress and dehydration risks for kids, seniors and the chronically ill. 🌡️

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia should begin preparations for the expected Super El Niño later this year, with experts warning that early action will help minimise its impact on public health, water resources, agriculture and the economy,…

MCMC & Health Ministry to pilot drone medicine delivery in Tawau, Sabah from Sept/Oct — for ~12 rural villages where patients travel 20–30km to hospital. 💊

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in collaboration with the Health Ministry, will launch a pilot project using drones to deliver medicines in Tawau, Sabah, around September or October, e…

One doctor’s crimes destroy public trust built by thousands of ethical doctors. A private hospital doctor has been jailed 7 years for physically and sexually assaulting a patient. Zero tolerance. Patients deserve safety, accountability, and swift justice. ⚖️

KUALA TERENGGANU: A private hospital doctor was sentenced to seven years' jail and seven strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court today after being found guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy four years ago.

Cancer surgery always carries risk. But when care falls below the expected standard, accountability matters. This RM430,936 court award is another reminder that patient safety, documentation, communication, and quality of care are not optional. ⚖️

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court awarded more than RM430,000 in damages to a widow after finding that her husband's death was caused by medical negligence following radical stomach cancer surgery at Shah Alam Hospital.

Galen Centre says the five-year sentence in an abortion-medication case reflects failures in prevention, protection and compassion, asking whether the woman had timely reproductive care or legal advice.

Galen Centre questions if the woman had access to legal advice, as she did not have a lawyer when she pleaded guilty.

More than 1 in 3 people with diabetes may develop diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes Malaysia Sarawak and SGH urge annual eye checks, glucose control and early detection to prevent permanent sight loss.

KUCHING (July 18): Diabetes Malaysia Sarawak Branch is stepping up public health efforts to raise awareness on diabetes-related complications, particularly diabetic eye disease, as part of its push to improve prevention and early…

Malaysia is adding 66,312 non-trade-off MOH posts worth RM6.7b, including 12,796 permanent doctor, dentist and pharmacist posts. The challenge now is fair distribution and placement across hospitals.

PUTRAJAYA: The Public Service Department (JPA) has approved the creation of 66,312 new non-trade-off posts for the Ministry of Health (MOH), involving a financial implication of RM6.7 billion to stren

💔 14yo Chong Kar Ching, born with Down syndrome & a heart defect, needs a 2nd op for mitral regurgitation — RM100,000 is out of reach for her family.

Fourteen years after lifesaving heart surgery, Chong Kar Ching urgently needs another operation to repair a failing heart valve.

Dear Doctors It's time to renew your APC Here are the steps outlined in this MMR Article

437 MOH inspectors’ contracts expire 23 July. A petition seeks extensions or permanent posts, warning Malaysia could lose vital staff for food safety and disease control. 🏥

A petition wants 437 outsourced assistant environmental health officers (PPKPs), or health inspectors, to be extended without a break in service or to receive permanent posts, as their contracts are set to lapse on July 23 after…

RSV is the top respiratory virus in Malaysian infants under 6 months — 84.5% of infected under-2s are hospitalised, a paediatrician writes. 👶

Like many other respiratory diseases, RSV is highly contagious – among infants, two out of three children experience their first infection before 12 months of age.

Night shifts, double duty & workplace conflict are driving burnout among MOH nurses and assistant medical officers, an NIH study finds. 😓

An NIH study found that night and double shifts, traumatic incidents, and workplace conflict contribute to burnout among nurses and assistant medical officers in MOH. MOH says it is increasing recruitment to ease workloads and re…