August 2014
Occasional
Paper
Malaysian
health system in transition
The ambiguity of public and private
Chan Chee-Khoon
 Since 1957, Malaysian citizens have enjoyed a de facto entitlement
to publicly provided and highly subsidized health care and the country’s
primary healthcare system is one of the most accessible in the world. In
recent years, government agencies have acquired controlling stakes in
major for-profit healthcare enterprises. The Johor state government, for
instance, controls a large diversified healthcare conglomerate which
includes the largest chain of private hospitals in the country.
Meanwhile, the federal government’s sovereign wealth fund (Khazanah)
controls the second largest listed private healthcare provider worldwide.
Government-linked companies now account for more than 40% of ‘private’
hospital beds in Malaysia. This novel situation raises many intriguing
questions: Is this a “nationalization” of private enterprises in human
services, or an infusion of the logic of capital into the institutional
dynamics of the state? How are conflicts of interests playing out, as the
state juggles its multiple roles as funder and provider of public sector
health care, as regulator of the healthcare system, and as prime investor
in the for-profit health services industry? Read more...
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