Three new institutes

The Star: THREE medical institutes namely the National Institute for Cancer at Hospital Putrajaya, a National Forensic Institute and the National Institute for Oral Health are in the pipeline under the 9MP.
Regional centres for the management of infectious diseases will also be established, along with hospitals for women and children, and people suffering from chronic and terminal illnesses.
Underused medical facilities will also be optimised, by using hospitals with low-bed occupancy for patients suffering from chronic and terminal illnesses as well as those requiring rehabilitation.
Palliative centres, day care centres and halfway houses for mental patients will also be set up at these facilities.
The National Medicine Policy will be formulated to promote the rational use of safe and affordable drugs.
Consumer education on pharmaceuticals will also be increased via online information websites, awareness campaigns and increased involvement from pharmacists in in-patient care.
The private and public sectors are also expected to cooperate in the outsourcing of medical services, provision of services in public facilities by private practitioners, leasing of public facilities to private practitioners as well as collaborating with private medical institutions, will all be undertaken.
Malaysia will also be promoting health tourism by developing a package of services including traditional and complementary medicine (T/CM), spas and cosmetics services at popular tourist destinations.
Health promotion activities will be marketed to attract more tourists.
Malaysians can expect the shortage of medical and health personnel in the country to be addressed under the 9MP as RM1bill has been allocated to improve human resource development.