Budget 2027: Health Ministry to expand outsourcing programme to cut waiting times

IPOH, Oct 11 — The Health Ministry (MOH) will expand the scope of the Hospital Services Outsourcing Programme (HSOP) to cover new areas following an increase in its allocation to RM200 million under Budget 2027, which was tabled on Friday.

Deputy Health Director-General (Medical) Datuk Dr Mohd Azman Yacob said the additional allocation would enable the ministry to refer more patients to private hospitals for faster treatment.

“With the allocation increased from RM144 million to RM200 million, we will focus on HSOP, including expanding it to several new areas deemed suitable.

“This initiative has also proven effective in shortening patients’ waiting times at government hospitals, particularly for Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, which previously took between three and six months,” he said at a press conference after attending the Public-Private Partnership Empowerment Ceremony for the Cataract Surgery Programme between the Malaysian Government and Perak Community Specialist Hospital (PCSH) here yesterday.

On Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when tabling Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat, announced an allocation of RM200 million for outsourcing patient treatment to other hospitals as a measure to reduce waiting times, particularly at government hospitals.

Introduced in 2024, HSOP currently benefits patients requiring treatment in nephrology, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, paediatric cardiology and radiology.

Mohd Azman said HSOP enabled patients to access treatment at private hospitals more quickly, while the charges imposed remained subject to the rates set by government hospitals.

“For example, if the actual cost of treatment at a private hospital is RM3,000, the patient will pay the applicable government hospital rate, while the government covers the remaining cost through HSOP,” he said.

He added that patients were selected for the programme based on assessments by specialists at government hospitals, specifically for cases requiring urgent treatment and diagnostic procedures. — Bernama