ABSTRACT
The Rural Health Service (RHS) and Maternal Child Health (MCH) became central in these attempts to improve health and increased budget allocations were made to promote health care. Having established the need to provide health care, the Malayan government set up a department of health in 1957 to address the burden of ill health and disease. Today, it has grown to a ministry with a strong vision, supported by a budget and a sophisticated health delivery system to suit specific needs of the population. In conjunction with the setting up of the Ministry to form and lead policy and implementation of health care policies, the government also provided financial support. In common with the position in other countries this public support, along with private expenditures, constitutes a major share of the national resource. This chapter emphasis on the implications of features of many health care reforms which include the increasing role for private hospitals and other forms of privatisation.
