The Ministry of Health, Malaysia in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, organised a 1-day seminar on Health Sector Reform and Financial Sustainability at the Institute for Health Management in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. The 2 speakers were Prof Peter Berman, PhD (Public Policy) and Paul Shaw, PhD (Economics). Both speakers have had vast experience in their respective areas.

The Ministry of Health has been assessing and reviewing various initiatives aimed at strengthening the national health sector in order to address emerging challenges and issues whilst aligning it with the country’s aspiration to become a high income economy by 2020. The aim of the seminar was to create awareness and support professional development of stakeholders on health sector reform and financial sustainability. The seminar incorporated the concise version of the World Bank Institute’s and Harvard School of Public Health’s Flagship Course on Health Sector Reform and Financial Sustainability.

Topics covered were the Flagship Framework Introduction to Health Sector Reform and Health Care Financing and The Control Knobs to Restructure the Health Care System. There was also a lecture on what had been learnt from other countries pursuing such reforms. Peter Berman also gave his perspective of the Malaysian 1Care as seen through the “eyes” of the Flagship Framework.

There was a good turnout despite it being a Sunday and during the discussion sessions, questions were fielded and comments given by the audience. Concerns were also raised for the speakers to address from their experience in different countries and models. Suffice to say, the transformation would depend on the accurate and precise assessment of the current health situation, and every country would need a model that is customised to meet its needs and how financial sustainability could be achieved. The speakers agreed that it is indeed a complex issue and many countries have taken many years to reach their targets.