It is ironic that the Ministry of Health’s Rakan KKM scheme will be launched at Cyberjaya Hospital in December – the same month the world marks Universal Health Coverage Day on the twelfth. The Rakan KKM scheme risks undermining the very principle of universal access. Instead of promoting equity, it offers a marketing-sounding “premium economy” tier of care to those who can afford it, contradicting the Sustainable Development Goals Malaysia has pledged to uphold.

The United Nations reminds us that health systems must work for everyone, regardless of income. Yet Rakan KKM appears to create a parallel, superior pathway for wealthier patients, using the same specialists and public facilities that ordinary Malaysians must wait months to access. Clients are promised personalised care, choice of specialists, enhanced privacy and quicker appointments. But for those unable to pay, will wait times grow even longer?

The MOH says Rakan KKM covers only elective procedures and will not affect urgent cases. It is touted as a “win-win” to retain specialists at public hospitals and broaden patient choice at lower fees than private hospitals. But this “choice” is clearly not universal.

Moreover, the MOH has yet to confront a key concern: potential conflicts of interest. Some specialists who stand to gain from Rakan KKM also head critical units in public hospitals. If they participate, can they truly prioritise public patients? And although the scheme is said to operate after office hours, can overworked specialists maintain quality of care when staffing shortages already strain the system?

Rakan KKM also creates perverse incentives. If these units were functioning well, patients would not seek fast-tracked alternatives. Instead, the scheme risks deepening existing weaknesses while normalising wealth-based access.

There are many other troubling aspects about the scheme, even from the little that has been revealed in the media, as pointed out by the Malaysian Medical Association. And as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, details the public has every right to scrutinise.

Malaysians deserve full transparency. As Universal Health Coverage Day approaches on 12 December, we urge the public to hold the MOH accountable and demand a system that serves everyone equally.

Join Parti Sosialis Malaysia in calling for the cancellation of Rakan KKM, a five-year freeze on new private hospitals, 5% of gross domestic product for healthcare and stronger regulation of private hospital charges.

The Save Our Nation’s Health Campaign Committee
Parti Sosialis Malaysia