After almost a decade of delays, residents of Petaling Jaya, especially the B40 community, sections of the M40, and even pockets of the T20 who still depend on subsidised healthcare, may finally see a public hospital built in the city. That too, perhaps only within the next five years, after the government recently announced that a site for the proposed Petaling Jaya Hospital has finally been identified.

The announcement came only after intense public backlash erupted across social media. Many questioned the absurdity of prioritising data centres over essential public infrastructure such as hospitals. What further angered the public was the response from Selangor’s chief minister, Amirudin Shaari, which came across less as accountability and more as arrogance. Repeatedly boasting about Selangor being the richest state means little if that wealth is not redistributed through accessible public necessities such as public hospitals, clinics, public transport, and social infrastructure. Economic growth without social redistribution is merely statistical prosperity.

Since the debate began, social media has become flooded with various opinions. Lim Yi Wei, the Kampung Tunku DAP assemblyperson, emphasised the need for immediate measures to secure the proposed site and ensure that the project is included in the 2027 Budget. Pakatan Harapan’s counterpart, Amanah secretary-general Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, called for the temporary use of a private hospital while awaiting the completion of the new public hospital. Meanwhile, PSM Petaling Jaya chairperson Gandipan Nantha Gopalan renewed the party’s call for a clear construction timeline, warning that without firm commitments, the project could meet the same fate as the proposed Maran Hospital, which was ultimately abandoned despite earlier promises.

Amidst all these diverse opinions and political dynamics from various political representatives, the demand for a public hospital to cater the people of Petaling Jaya remains unequivocal and persistent. Yet, the crux of the issue remains painfully clear: Malaysia’s public healthcare system is chronically underfunded, and healthcare workers as well as the dependent public are paying the price for it.

This is not a new crisis. The government has long been aware of the structural problems plaguing public healthcare. Yet the reforms introduced over the years have largely been piecemeal and insufficient. Whereas the neoliberalisation efforts of privatisation and two-tiered services in the public healthcare may work exactly to the disadvantage of the many because they fail to address the root cause, which is the inadequate investment.

Burnout among healthcare workers is no longer an exception; it has become institutionalised. Excessive working hours, manpower shortages, stagnant wages, and poor work-life balance are normalised under the romanticised language of “sacrifice” and “service”. Public healthcare workers like doctors and nurses are expected to endure exhaustion as though fatigue is a professional virtue. Then, when public healthcare workers exit the public service, politicians suddenly shed crocodile tears over the so-called “brain drain epidemic”, instead of formulating meaningful policies.
At the same time, ordinary Malaysians continue to suffer the consequences of an overstretched system. Devoid of a public hospital in a densely populated areas such as Petaling Jaya, patients are forced to seek treatment far from home. Long commuting hours, overcrowded wards, delayed diagnoses, and prolonged waiting times have become routine experiences for working-class families. For the underprivileged, healthcare delays are not mere inconveniences. They can determine whether an illness worsens or whether a patient survives.

So, who should be held accountable when a system effectively decides who gets timely treatment and who does not? In moments like this, the demands raised by both healthcare workers and the public are not contradictory. They are interconnected.

Doctors need humane working conditions. Patients need accessible public hospitals.

Healthcare workers need rest. The people need care.

It is not one or the other. They must coexist.

Saving public healthcare means saving both the workers who sustain the system and the people who depend on it.

Against this urgent backdrop, the federal government must finally commit to increasing public healthcare expenditure to at least 5% of GDP without further delay. Both Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional pledged such a commitment in their respective election manifestos in the previous general election. What, then, is preventing the MADANI ruling government from implementing its own promises? Malaysia’s healthcare spending remains comparatively low for an upper-middle-income country, despite repeated policy promises to strengthen the sector.

A serious injection of funding would allow the government to immediately address understaffing, improve wages and on-call allowances, expand hospital infrastructure, and reduce the crushing workloads faced by healthcare workers. At the same time, it would shorten waiting times, improve treatment access, and reduce the burden on overcrowded hospitals.

A wealthy state and a developing nation should not force its people to choose between exhausted healthcare workers and inaccessible hospitals. Both the healthcare workers and the Rakyat deserve better.

Barathi Selvam,
Committee Member
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Petaling Jaya Branch)