KUALA LUMPUR – The government should allocate proceeds from the “sin tax” on tobacco and alcohol products to fund the procurement of innovative medications under Budget 2025, experts said.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib said that annual budgets in public hospitals under both the Health Ministry and Higher Education Ministry are struggling to accommodate innovative therapies. He noted that such treatments are increasingly essential for improving health outcomes and saving lives.
“Providing efficacious and safe immunotherapy or biologic agents to patients is a challenge under existing budgetary limitations and priorities.
“(Therefore) we recommend that the government allocate and earmark 5% of annual revenue from excise duties imposed on the sale of tobacco, vape, e-cigarettes, and alcohol products (which is) estimated to be more than RM 5.5 billion per annum to provide funding of an estimated RM290 million annually for the procurement of innovative medicines.
“This will be a focused, dedicated and targeted fund to ensure the availability of lifesaving therapies for those who need it. This move will save lives and prolong life,” said Azrul in a statement to Scoop.
Azrul, along with Amrahi Buang, president of the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS), also called for an increase in tobacco taxes, highlighting that such measures have not been taken since 2015.
Jeffrey Drope, director of Tobacconomics and research professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at John Hopkins University, expressed concern over the increasing affordability of cigarettes in Malaysia. Drope described the situation as “really worrisome”, according to the Galen Centre.
Funds needed for more public health officers
Additionally, Amrahi urged Budget 2025 to allocate funds for the Health Ministry to hire more public health enforcement officers following the enforcement of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852) from October 1 onwards.
He noted that while the law is a positive step towards combating smoking, effective enforcement will be critical to its success.
“We need more personnel to enforce this law. Empowering others is also necessary because it’s a behavioural and cultural issue. It should be a ‘one government, one society’ effort,” he said.
However, Azrul disagreed, stating that adding more positions in the ministry would place additional financial burdens on taxpayers. He argued that the focus should instead be on educating the public and encouraging community-level enforcement.
“They have other things to do. These are the same guys who are also looking at the (cleanliness) of restaurants (and) food safety, for example.
“So while they are busy looking at whether or not you’re smoking in places you shouldn’t be, it takes their time away from places where they should be able to monitor issues like food safety,” – October 13, 2024