KUALA LUMPUR — The excise duty for sugary drinks will be increased by 40 sen from January 1.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this when announcing a “war on sugar” in tabling Budget 2025 in Parliament today, noting that Malaysians rank among the highest for obesity in Southeast Asia.
The revenue obtained from the tax on sugary drinks will be used to improve healthcare expenditure for diabetes patients, he said.
Other key highlights for the Health Ministry in Budget 2025 include the maintenance and upgrading of existing healthcare facilities, health excellence centres, a sustainable public healthcare system, and the establishment of a special fund for rare diseases.
Overall, the Health Ministry will receive an allocation of RM45.3 billion under Budget 2025, marking an increase of about 10% from the RM41.22 billion allocated in Budget 2024.
The ministry’s allocation is the second highest among ministries in Budget 2025, after the RM64.1 billion allocated to the Education Ministry.
The government is also strengthening collaboration with 91 private hospitals to decant patients from public hospitals for cardiology, radiology, and nephrology services.
The same will be done with the National Heart Institute to treat heart patients who are retired civil servants.
Additionally, the government plans to implement an “offtake” or special procurement policy with companies that make new domestic investments to produce pharmaceuticals and critical medical devices.
This will not only enhance the security of medicine supply from local sources but is also expected to reduce costs in the medium term.
Budget 2025 will also allocate RM100 million to the health ministry for procuring the latest medical equipment, enhancing existing centres of medical excellence.
Additionally, the ministry is conducting preliminary work to establish a cancer centre in Kuching and a specialist heart hospital in Kota Kinabalu. – October 18, 2024