Health ministry aims to treat 81% of patients within an hour through PERSADA, with full digital rollout by 2027.
PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Health (MOH) is targeting 81 per cent of patients to receive treatment within an hour through the National Digital Health Ecosystem and Connectivity Catalyst (PERSADA) programme is expected to be fully implemented by the first quarter of 2027.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the strategic initiative between MOH and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) would increase the digital connectivity of health facilities, thus reducing waiting times and smoothing the patient treatment journey.
He said the benefits of digitalisation were beginning to translate into the people’s experience as current data showed that 63 per cent of patients received services within a waiting time of less than 30 minutes while 18 per cent received services within 30 to 60 minutes.
“The digital transformation efforts being implemented by the Ministry of Health have begun to show encouraging results. As of April 2026, a total of 4.21 million individuals have been registered in the digital health ecosystem.
“During the same period, more than 22.41 million digital transactions have been recorded with an average of around 75,000 transactions per day,” he said in a press conference after the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Health and MCMC for the PERSADA initiative, here today.
The MoU was signed by MCMC chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din and Ministry of Health secretary-general Datuk Seri Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad, witnessed by Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil and Dzulkefly.
Dzulkefly said more than 2,000 health clinics will gain access to the Cloud-Based Clinical Management System (CCMS), in addition to supporting the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) which allows patient records to be accessed in an integrated manner between hospitals and public clinics.
He said that currently 500 health clinics out of more than 3,000 clinics nationwide have digital access, with Labuan and Langkawi among the locations that have achieved full connectivity.
Dzulkefly said that through PERSADA, the collaboration between the Ministry of Health and MCMC will focus on four main initiatives, namely improving the coverage and quality of internet access at public health facilities and strengthening the implementation of the EMR system to support the continuity of patient treatment.
In addition, other focuses include expanding telehealth services through the integration of the Malaysia Virtual Health Assistant System (MyVAS) with the National Information Dissemination Centre (NADI) and exploring the use of drone technology for the delivery of medical supplies in hard-to-reach areas, in addition to strengthening the capacity building and digital preparedness of the health sector.
