The healthcare sector is hopeful that the upcoming National Budget for 2019 will include significant initiatives to enhance healthcare services in Malaysia. — Bernama photo
SERI KEMBANGAN: The healthcare sector is hopeful that the upcoming National Budget for 2019 will include significant initiatives to enhance healthcare services in Malaysia.
Medical/healthcare beds, peripherals and accessories provider LKL International Bhd (LKL), in a statement, pointed out that Malaysia’s density of hospital beds lagged behind the international standard of 2.5 hospital beds per 1,000 population, with the public and private sector providing 1.9 hospital beds per 1,000 population in 2015.
Speaking at LKL’s Annual General Meeting, managing director Lim Kon Lian said: ““There is a significant gap to close in Malaysia’s hospital bed-to-population ratio, to ensure that Malaysians have reliable access to quality healthcare.
“This issue would become even more acute in future with 20 per cent of the Malaysian population reaching over 60 years old by 2050.”
Lim added, “Therefore, we are hopeful that the Government would address this concern by allocating more resources for healthcare facilities, in addition to incentives to encourage investments from the private sector.”
On LKL’s part, Lim noted that the group would be investing in new manufacturing capacity and capabilities to support the growing requirements of both the public and private healthcare sectors.
“At our end, to effectively meet the anticipated growth in orders from our customers in the longer term, we plan to enhance our manufacturing facilities in Seri Kembangan by building a new four-storey steel structure extension, which we expect to complete by 2021. This would boost our capacity and capabilities to scale up our production in line with future demand.”