Materia Medica Malaysiana

Heart disease taking toll on fiscal health

In 2003, cardiovascular drugs topped the list of pharmaceuticals the ministry bought from Pharmaniaga (the ministry’s major supplier), with the bill coming to RM70.2 million.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said cardiovascular diseases and their treatment consumed a substantial portion of the nation’s healthcare budget.
The ministry’s total expenditure on drugs increased from RM228 million in 1996 to RM751 million in 2003.
Dr Chua said the use of statins in the primary prevention of atherosclerosis alone cost nearly RM10 million annually.
At the National Heart Institute (IJN), subsidy payments by the Government for civil servants and poor patients rose from RM31.3 million between September 1992 and August 1993 to RM144.5 million between September 2003 and August last year.
These figures gave just a glimpse of the financial burden imposed on the Government by cardiovascular diseases.
"More funds will be channelled under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to address the risk factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases, such as diabetes, smoking, hypertension and high blood cholesterol," he said.