MOH launches RESET initiative to transform healthcare with digital integration and UHC goals.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is pursuing a long-term transformation of its healthcare system, with an emphasis on sustainability, innovation, and universal access.
Speaking at the Malaysia International Healthcare (MIH) Megatrends 2025, the Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad highlighted that public health and primary care have been strengthened, access to telemedicine expanded, and investments in the healthcare workforce maintained to ensure affordable and accessible services for all.
“Healthcare costs are rising faster than general inflation, driven by demographic changes, chronic disease burden, and technological advances.
“To address this, Malaysia is exploring long-term, equitable financing strategies that support continuous innovation,” he said.
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The minister emphasised that these reforms are coordinated under the RESET initiative, a whole-of-government approach involving the MOH, Finance Ministry, Bank Negara Malaysia and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
RESET aims to revamp, enhance, strengthen, expand, and transform healthcare services through measures such as:
R – Revamp: Introduction of the base Malaysia Health Information Technology product
E – Enhance: Price transparency
S – Strengthen: Digital health
E – Expand: Affordable options via Rakan KKM
T – Transform: Implementation of provider payments via Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs)
Dzulkefly said the initiative is designed to advance Malaysia’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals, ensuring innovation, access, affordability, and sustainability are balanced, leaving no one behind.
Digital transformation, he added, is central to the plan, with the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system forming the backbone of integrated care enabling continuity of care, reduces duplication, improves patient safety, and powers clinical decisions with real-time data.
Malaysia’s national health data integration via MySejahtera is already extensive, covering:
- 7.2 million prescription records
- 3.5 million dental records
- 4.2 million screening records
- 30 million vaccination records
“By 2029, the ministry aims to build a fully interoperable health information ecosystem to support clinicians, empower patients, and strengthen national health security.
“Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), genomics, robotics, and advanced analytics, noting their potential to enhance early disease detection, improve surgical precision, and enable personalised treatment,” Dzulkefly added.
However, he stressed that innovation must remain safe, ethical, secure, and inclusive, with strong cybersecurity, data governance, and digital health architecture to protect patient rights.
He also urged policymakers, clinicians, innovators, and industry leaders to translate discussions at MIH Megatrends 2025 into real solutions, partnerships, and impact, reinforcing Malaysia’s commitment to a resilient, innovative, equitable, and sustainable healthcare future.
