2 THE SUN Saturday, October 12, 2002

=======================================NATIONAL========================================

We need health insurance: Dr M
 
KUALA LUMPUR:  The high cost of medicines and treatment is among the reasons why the government wants to introduce a national health insurance scheme.
 
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mathathir Mohamad said yesterday the government could no longer afford to continue providing free health services and hoped that the insurance scheme would ease the burden.
 
"We don't want to burden the public but the government has limits to its spending.  We have raised expenditure for the Health Ministry by 20%, the highest we have allocated, but it is always not enough.  So we have to have some kind of insurance," he said.
 
Budget 2003, tabled in the Dewan Rakyat last month, allocates RM7.55 billion to upgrade medical and public health services. 
 
Mahathir said the provision of free medical services was inherited from the colonial system.
 
During the British era, he said, the colonial government could dispense medicines free of charge because medical costs then were low, with cough mixture costing just one sen a bottle, and the bottle was supplied by the patient.
 
"But now, antibiotics have to be prescribed for a cough.  Each capsule costs RM5 or RM10, which we cannot afford," he said.
 
Mahathir said the government was studying the health insurance models of other countries. 
 
However, the British model, which requires citizens to contribute to the scheme, will not be used. 
 
The prime minister said the government would continue to provide free treatment within its means, but that those who could afford to pay for medical services should.
 
"For example, we sometimes get factory workers.  Factories can easily send (their workers) to government hospitals, so the factories should pay for the treatment," he said.
 
"In Malaysia, there is no contribution from civil servants.  We are prepared to spend a great deal with money from other sources collected by the government.
 
"In view of the large number of patients and the government's increasing expenditure, an insurance scheme will allow the ill to have access to treatment paid for by insurance companies."