Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the move aims to provide more comprehensive and accessible healthcare to all segments of society, including those in rural areas.

“There are not many referral hospitals in the country. To address this issue, we have started assigning specialists to key district hospitals that do not have full-time specialists.

“…we also plan to introduce minor surgical procedures at health clinics as part of our ongoing healthcare reforms,” he said during the oral question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Dr Dzulkefly was responding to a supplementary question from Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PN-Sik), who asked about the government’s plans to place additional full-time medical specialists in rural areas.

In a separate issue, Dr Dzulkefly said the MOH conducts regular assessments of the operational needs and responsibilities of on-call medical staff.

He said this is to ensure that the number of on-call personnel is adequate, balancing the welfare of healthcare workers

“The number of medical officers on call is determined based on service needs, workload, and the complexity of cases at healthcare facilities,” he said in reply to a question from Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) on whether the current number of on-call doctors is sufficient.

Source: Bernama

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the remaining 70 doctors who came back to Malaysia opted to work in the private sector or with statutory bodies instead of rejoining government service.

“Not all ground is greener next door until they step on it,” he remarked during the policy-stage debate on the Supply Bill (Budget) 2026.

Dr Dzulkefly said that to address the ongoing issue of healthcare professionals migrating abroad, the ministry must continue improving career structures, particularly those relating to remuneration and wages.

“What is most important is for the Ministry of Health to continue refining the career schemes, especially regarding pay and allowances,” he said.

“My team is actively exploring ways to retain our healthcare workforce, including specialists, medical officers and nurses. This is among the measures we are implementing to keep our experts in service.”

On claims that Singapore’s Ministry of Health had been attempting to recruit Malaysian specialists and nurses to work in its facilities, Dr Dzulkefly clarified that the matter had been raised directly with his Singaporean counterpart.

“Frankly, I have contacted the Health Minister of Singapore. Initially, I received confirmation from him that such activities were being carried out by private recruitment agencies,” he said. “He himself expressed regret over the matter. We will continue to engage further on this issue, as this is not the first time I have taken action.”

The mission, led by Colonel Komang Agus Wirawan, was formally sent off from the Ministry of Defense by Deputy Minister Donny Ermawan. Officials say the deployment is crucial as Gaza’s medical infrastructure buckles under relentless attacks and a rising toll of casualties.

Moreover, the Garuda Merah Putih II Task Force has been launched to deliver 800 tons of food, blankets, and medical supplies to Gaza. The operation was flagged off by National Armed Forces (TNI) Commander Gen. Agus Subiyanto at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in Jakarta.

A 66-member contingent—comprising TNI personnel, representatives from government ministries, the National Alms Agency (Baznas), and national media—departed aboard two Super Hercules aircraft bound for Jordan. Over a 12-day mission, the aid will be distributed to 10 locations inside Gaza. Gen. Agus said the effort carries symbolic weight as it coincides with Indonesia’s 80th independence anniversary and urged the team to ensure the assistance reaches those most in need.

The ministry said in a written reply to Senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran that it seeks to increase the number of scholarships and introduce better promotional prospects for these doctors.

“As for hospitals that do not have resident geriatricians, the ministry has introduced an outreach programme whereby specialists from other hospitals will visit them to provide geriatric care to patients there,” it said.

According to the statistics department, 14.5% of Malaysians will be aged 65 years old and above by 2040, nearly double the 8.1% recorded in 2024.

Lingeshwaran previously said Malaysia has only 67 geriatricians, of whom 51 are in public hospitals.

He also said there is currently only one geriatrician for every 40,000 senior citizens (aged 65 and above). “This is far from the government’s target of having one for every 10,000 senior citizens,” he told FMT.

Lingeshwaran, a former director of the Sungai Bakap Hospital in Penang, said the Dewan Negara was told recently that at least 549 geriatricians are needed by 2030.

“It is impossible to achieve this target at the present rate,“ he said, as the health ministry has said only about eight geriatric specialists are being produced every year.

This scenario raises concerns that patients may not receive timely treatment, thereby increasing mortality rates.

Utusan Malaysia reported that, based on Health Ministry data, there are only 175 oncologists across the country.

Meanwhile, the recorded number of cancer patients s of 2020 stands at 48,639, meaning the ratio is at of one doctor for 277 patients.

The National Cancer Institute predicts that the number of cancer patients will double by 2040 from the 48,639 cases recorded in 2020.

This indicates that one in every 10 people in Malaysia will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.

In terms of treatment centres, Malaysia has only nine such facilities under the Health Ministry, including the cancer institute in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Penang Hospital, and the Sabah Women and Children’s Hospital.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia community health specialist Professor Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, said that the capacity of oncologists and treatment centres is insufficient to meet the increasing demand.

She said an even greater concern is that patients are required to wait longer for appointments and treatment, which in turn reduces their chances of recovery.

“The facilities for treating and screening cancer patients in Malaysia are still not satisfactory. Furthermore, the number of cancer specialists is inadequate to cater to the growing patient numbers.

“We have several government hospitals offering treatment, but their numbers are far from sufficient,” she told Utusan Malaysia.

The National Cancer Institute revealed that five types of cancer are most prevalent among Malaysians, namely breast cancer, colorectal or colon cancer, lung cancer, nasopharyngeal or head and neck cancer, and liver cancer.

Dr Sharifa said this situation forces many patients to travel long distances to receive treatment, endure prolonged waiting times for appointments, and, in more distressing cases, some do not receive treatment in time because their condition has become too critical.

“This is happening because government hospitals are increasingly short of specialists, leading to longer waiting times for treatment and raising the risk of patients losing their lives.

“Delays in treatment can cause cancer to spread and worsen. Some patients initially have a chance of recovery, but due to a slow and inefficient system, they eventually lose all hope of survival,” she said.

Dr Sharifa said the government must urgently increase the number of cancer treatment centres and train more specialists to tackle this crisis.

“We can no longer afford delays. We need to expand treatment facilities, increase the number of specialists, and ensure that all citizens have access to quality treatment without having to wait too long.

“Additionally, awareness of the importance of early screening must also be broadened so that more patients can be diagnosed early before their disease becomes too severe,” she said.

According to data released by the Health Ministry, men are most commonly affected by lung cancer at a rate of 17 per cent, while women most frequently suffer from breast cancer, accounting for 32.9 per cent of total cases.

Taking these two cancers as examples, if lung cancer is detected early at Stage 1, the survival rate is 37.1 per cent, but if diagnosed late at Stage 4, the patient’s chances drop to just 6.3 per cent.

For breast cancer, patients have a very high chance of survival if detected at Stage 1, with a rate of 87.5 per cent.

However, if diagnosed at Stage 4, their survival rate decreases to 23.3 per cent.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the initiative allows them to dedicate extra time to providing medical services, earning additional income, and mentoring clinical teams after fulfilling their public duties.

Described as a “win-win solution,” the programme would strengthen public healthcare while supporting healthcare professionals in continuing their service, said Dzulkefly in a written reply on Thursday (Feb 20).

He was responding to a question from MP Datuk Seri Wee Jeck Seng (BN-Tanjung Piai), who sought details on the hospitals involved and how the ministry plans to ensure sufficient specialist coverage before full implementation.

Dzulkefly reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to maintaining adequate specialist availability across public hospitals.

Since 2017, the ministry has allowed specialists to take one day off per week to work externally or in private hospitals under the ‘FlexiHours’ scheme, he said.

To ensure smooth implementation, the ministry will closely monitor and evaluate each hospital’s capacity and specialist resources before fully integrating the programme.

“The initiative will not compromise public healthcare services but will instead strengthen the system as a whole. Our goal is to retain skilled healthcare professionals in the public sector for the benefit of all Malaysians,” he added.

He said the ministry is focused on improving healthcare access while safeguarding patient interests in government hospitals.

“The ‘Rakan KKM’ initiative aims to reduce the additional workload imposed by the FlexiHours scheme while maintaining the quality of public healthcare services,” he said.

Source: Asia News Network

At least 240 medical doctors and specialists have left Sarawak since early last month to take up jobs in the peninsula states, he said.

Dr Sim, who is State Minister for Public Health, Local Government and Housing, said the departure en-masse resulted in a worsening shortage in government hospitals and clinics in Sarawak.

“We are already facing a serious shortage of doctors and specialists, and now another 240 plus have left for peninsula Malaysia since early January this year.

“We (state government) have requested urgent attention from the federal Health Ministry.

“The federal ministry had responded by offering 200 immediate postings to Sarawak for doctors and specialists willing to come here.

“However, only 20 took up the offer and that number cannot overcome the severe shortage we are facing,” he said at the Sarawak United Peoples Party post-Chinese New Year gathering in Sibu.

Dr Sim said those who could not wait for the long queues in government hospitals and clinics now have to go to private hospitals and clinics.

“The costs are very high and still escalating,” he said.

Dr Sim said Sarawak will have to come up with comprehensive plans on how to overcome these woes.

Sarawak is too heavily dependent on non-Sarawakian doctors as there are not enough trained local Sarawakians in this crucial health and medical services sectors.

This situation is prevalent in all urban and rural districts, involving both the government hospitals and clinics as well as private ones, said Dr Sim.

“In Sarawak, based on latest statistics, there are 4,000 doctors serving in government hospitals and clinics and 659 doctors in private hospitals and clinics.

“Of these, the majority of them are non-Sarawakians and they are here to fill the needs of the local health and medical sectors throughout the state.

He said his ministry is trying to find ways to get more Sarawakians to go for medical courses. – February 28, 2025.

Senolytic drugs, part of a new class of anti-aging medication, has been found to prevent age-related deterioration of spinal discs in animal experiments. Senolytic drugs work by removing destructive senescent cells which accumulate in all living tissues with age, essentially accelerating the aging process. Recent research findings by regenerative medicine and biomedical engineering specialists are hoped to guide more functional treatments – particularly for back pain –using senolytic drugs, as well as improve the human healthspan, or the amount of our lives we spend healthy.

Age-related back pain is a common ailment and one in direct conflict with the idea of a lengthy healthspan: chronic back pain afflicting adults is tied to the deterioration of spinal discs that offer support for the vertebrae. Surgery and steroid injections may treat back pain caused by disc degeneration; however prolonged use of opioid-based injections, especially, run the risk of addiction.

Read also: Pay attention to spine ergonomics to avoid neck and back pain

Dr. Makarand Risbud, Co-director of the cell biology and regenerative medicine graduate programmeatThomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, US, and colleagues have shown that treatment with a cocktail of senolytic drugs promises “a novel preventative approach” to spinal disc degeneration in mice.

In the experiments, young, middle-aged, and elderly mice were all injected weekly with senolytic drugs consisting of dasatinib and quercetin. The two drugs are currently the subject of clinical trials for treating scarred lung tissue.At the end, the treatment did indeed have an effect, albeit unexpected.

It was anticipated that the drugs would have the most profound effect on the older animals with larger concentrations of senescent cells, but it was the younger animals that experienced the greatest benefit. These, along with the middle-aged mice, showed less disc degeneration and featured fewer senescent cells by the time they reached old age than a group of control mice given a placebo.

“We anticipated that in tissues with a lot of senescence, removing the senescent cells would make a big difference, but it didn’t,” admittedDr. Risbud. “The therapy was most effective when we started treating the mice when those senescent cells were just beginning to emerge. Our findings show that if given early, senolytic drugs can [actually] slow disc degeneration.”

While the data showed that the drug cocktail is well-tolerated in mice, Dr. Risbud expects human recipients to need the drug injections over a longer period for it to be effective.