FACULTY OF DENTISTRY

COMMUNITY DENTISTRY.

“Describe the features of healthcare system you would like to have in this
country.”
 INSTRUCTOR: PROF DATO DR.WAN MOHAMAD NASIR BIN WAN
OTHMAN.

NAME: ABDULLAH ZAHID BIN AZHARI.

MATRIC NO: 1090043

Describe the features of healthcare system you would like to have in this country.

Healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation
of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health
professions. While the healthcare system according to The World Health Organization (WHO) is
defined as “all the activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, or maintain health.”
The components of healthcare system encompasses the personnel, institutions, commodities,
information, financing and governance strategies that support the delivery of prevention and
treatment services.

In Malaysia, healthcare is governed by Ministry of Health (MOH). MOH has the

responsibilities to respond towards people’s needs and expectations by providing services in a
fair and equitable manner. In upholding the responsibilities, there are several services that have
been implementing which include patient care, public health, pharmaceutical, oral health,
laboratory and engineering services as well as the training programmes for allied health. Indeed,
healthcare in Malaysia has undergone quite commendable progression. However, there are quite
numerous of issues in Malaysia that explain the healthcare problems surfaced which need
improvements. In order to identify the attritions, firstly we need to know the elements to be
discussed in general perspectives. According to WHO, the elements that need to be measured in
developing and strengthening the health system are :
1. Health care financing mechanism
2. Restructuring of health services delivery system.
3. Human resource development
 4. Quality of health care

Health care financing mechanism

During these days, healthcare in Malaysia is provided by the public and private sectors
and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The major provider and financier of health
services is the Ministry of Health (MOH) which is funded through taxation. The reality that has
brought the system into financial problem is seemed due to inadequate integration between
public and private health services. The ultimate consequent has shown that the private healthcare
expenditure is increasing and high proportion of health expenditure comes from out-of-pocket
expenditure. In fact, disease pattern and population profiles are changing year by year, we need
the new high cost medical equipments to tackle those challenges and this will raise an
expectation towards getting an expensive service charge. Thus, in general, we need to establish
better integration between public and private health sectors. Perhaps, the ministry of health
should be allowed to have the intervention towards the expenditure of the private sectors in order
to provide affordable medical charges. Other than that, we need to increase the surveillance on
National Health Insurance system which has been proposed that it should be the main source of
revenue collection. Indeed, adequately funded health system ensures the health service delivery
and protects system financially.

Restructuring of health services delivery system .

According to WHO, Restructuring of the health service delivery system aims to increase
further efficiency and quality of the delivery of health services, to provide more flexibility and
autonomy in the provision of health services and to reduce the brain–drain of health
professionals from the public sector to the private sector by providing a more conducive working
environment, reducing the heavy workload and bureaucracy and providing better remuneration.
Regarding the health services delivery system in Malaysia, the problem that often to be the
limelight is on the issue of unavailability of quality healthcare centers in remote areas. Over-
dependence on public hospitals is also has been a big issue, particularly for inpatient care,
maternity care and the care for chronic illness. It was justified that about eighty percent (80%) of
hospitalization in Malaysia occurs in public hospitals. These mean that the community are not
yet achieve equitable access to healthcare. Therefore, the main strategy should be to focus on
primary healthcare (PHC), with secondary and tertiary care playing supportive roles through an
effective national referral system. PHC will provide access to healthcare closer to the home and
the community.

Human resource development

The healthcare worker shortage limits the ability of many countries to meet the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). The shortage weakens existing health-care delivery systems and
inhibits expansion of services. The Malaysian health system serves a growing population with an
increasing elderly component. The disease pattern is changing from communicable diseases to
non-communicable diseases. This raises demand for health services and shifts the nature of
services required. The rapid growth of the private sector has further increased demand.the thing
that has worsen the situation is when there was quite a big number of emigration of local skilled
workers. Thus , it is very important to strengthen human resource strategic and operational
planning and resource coordination at the Ministry of Health level. What we can suggest to the
country is to create incentives to retain workers and grant certifications that are not easily
transferable to other countries as.

Quality of health care

There are two main subjects in describing the quality healthcare; the competency of
healthcare worker and the patient safety. Within the Ministry of Health, the programmes for
Quality Assurance (QA) have been established in the following services: Patient Care, Public
Health, Pharmaceutical, Oral Health, Laboratory and Engineering services as well as the
Training Programmes for Allied Health. The main purpose of the programme is to provide
competent workers on a par with international standards. The problem that we are facing is
towards the private sector because there is insufficient information on the quality of services in
the private sector. As the patient safety is the important agenda, the MOH need to improve the
efficacy of executing diverse QA programme towards other players.

In conclusion, all of the issued problems are inter-related to each other. Since the
healthcare is regards as both a resource and an asset that requires investments that will contribute
to future national development, we need improvements without disregards on even one aspect,
meaning that it should be carried out towards whole aspects.