The Prime Minister flagging off the participants of the “Santuni Rakyat: Kenali Ubat Anda” Programme.

IPOH, 1 October 2023 - Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim today launched the National Level Madani Medical Scheme and Madani Afiat Programme 2023 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Roundabout in Meru Raya here.

In his speech, he said that the health and education sectors will continue to be a priority and receive large allocations in the 2024 Budget to be tabled soon.

"Like the previous budget, these two sectors got the biggest allocations compared to other ministries and that will continue. The focus will be on building and completing health and rural clinics and government hospitals," he said.

Also present were Perak Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Saarani Mohamad, Health Minister Dr. Zaliha Mustafa, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, State Secretary Dato' Ahmad Suaidi Abdul Rahim, Health Ministry Secretary-General Dato' Seri Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, State Financial Officer Mohd Zaki Mahyudin, State Exco Members and heads of state and federal departments.

Dato' Seri Anwar added that in the 2nd Madani Budget this month, health issues, especially clinics will be given priority, including the problem of overcrowding in government hospitals.

"Perhaps the congestion has been faced for years, but because actions were not quick and allocations not enough, the problem became complicated until now.

"Therefore, I have made sure and discussed with the ministers and officials in the Ministry of Finance that our focus of the 2024 Budget will be on health facilities," he said.

The Madani Medical Scheme is an important initiative of the Madani Malaysia Policy aims at providing equal access to quality health services to meet the health needs of the B40 group in acute primary health care, i.e., outpatient treatment of acute cases.

Meanwhile, the Madani Afiat Programme is the brainchild of Dr. Zaliha Mustafa in citizenising the Ministry of Health, and is a health reform agenda in the Second Pillar of the Health White Paper 2023, which proposes a shift in the focus of treating patients to a new paradigm, i.e., from sick care to health care.

Source : Corporate, SUK Perak.