Privatising Healthcare in Malaysia

Power, Policy and Profits

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3986682
AutoresRajah Rasiah (0000-0002-6654-3011, University of Malaya), Abdillah Noh (University of Malaya), Makmor Tumin (0000-0002-0093-7181, University of Malaya)
Año2009
Volumen39
Número1
Páginas50-62
Fecha de publicación2009-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472330802506790
OpenAlexW2103697966
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas17

This article examines the hypothesis that interest groups are behind the increasing privatisation of healthcare services in Malaysia. The evidence supports the instrumentalist argument that powerful interest groups seeking profits, rather than real concerns for allocative efficiency, have been the prime drivers of healthcare privatisation in Malaysia . Not only have private healthcare expenditures risen more swiftly than government healthcare expenditure but, from 1982, public funds have also been used to purchase private services from public hospitals However, unlike simple class analyses, class contention manifesting through alliances between politicians, bureaucrats and capitalists has been a major force behind healthcare privatisation in Malaysia. The source of these developments can be traced to power wielded by the government to quicken the creation of a Bumiputera capitalist class that began to gain momentum from the late 1970s. Key Words: HealthcarepublicprivatepowerpolicyMalaysia Notes Whereas Arrow (1963 Arrow, K. 1963. "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care,". American Economic Review, 53(5): 941–973. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) noted the prevalence of non-profits in hospitals, owing to uncertainty and incomplete risk markets, Stigler (1971 Stigler, J. 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation". Bell Journal of Economics, 2(1): 3–21. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) emphasised the importance of information in reducing transaction costs. Obtained from data used in Figure 1. Computed from data used in Figure 1 and using GDP deflators. The cost of outpatient treatment in Ministry of Health hospitals was set at RM 1, while a specialist consultation cost RM 5. Ward charges ranged from RM 80 in a single air-conditioned room to just RM 3 in a third-class shared ward. In 1995, the Ministry of Health established a register of social and non-governmental organisations willing to volunteer their services to government hospitals and for home nursing support. Some other cases involved the use of an intravenous needle filled with antibiotics that was inserted wrongly into the muscle instead of the blood vessel. It might also be added that the high rate of negligent cases recorded in the public as well as the private sector could be attributed to a better-informed public, as well as to the availability of channels to lodge medical complaints (see New Straits Times, 12 November 2007). These cases of profiteering and malpractice were reported in rapid succession, underlying problems of exorbitant charges and, at the same time, a private healthcare sector that is driven by medical insurance rather than patients' needs (see New Straits Times, 4 and 5 December 2007

Allocative efficiency · Argument (complex analysis · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Health care · Market economy · Microeconomics · Power (physics · Private sector · Public economics · Global Health Care Issues · Healthcare Policy and Management · Healthcare Systems and Reforms