PERTH – In a recent official visit to Perth, Sarawak Deputy Premier and Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, Dr Sim Kui Hian, paid a courtesy call on Dr Shirley Bowen, Director General of Health for Western Australia.
The meeting aimed to explore potential health collaborations between Sarawak and Western Australia, highlighting similarities in governance structure, demographics, and healthcare needs.
Dr Sim noted that both regions, despite being under different national federations, share a comparable population size—Sarawak with approximately 2.9 million and Western Australia with 3 million. Western Australia, the largest Australian state by land area, has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of A$377.26 billion and allocates A$14 billion annually (31% of its state budget) to healthcare. Of this, 42% is funded by the Commonwealth government.
Sarawak, similarly the largest state in Malaysia by landmass, operates under a different governance model where healthcare, education, and police are federally administered. The Malaysian federal government currently allocates RM3 billion (~7% of the Ministry of Health’s RM45 billion national budget) for healthcare in Sarawak.
Dr Sim underscored that the relatively low healthcare spending in Sarawak is not indicative of a healthier or younger population, but rather a need for greater investment. He stressed the importance of fully implementing the Ministry of Health’s White Paper—already approved by the Malaysian Parliament—which calls for health spending to reach 5% of GDP within a set timeline.
The discussions with Dr Bowen were described as productive, laying the groundwork for meaningful partnerships in healthcare delivery, infrastructure, and research between the two regions.
Western Australia operates under a decentralised system where five ministers are individually responsible for various aspects of healthcare, including mental health, infrastructure, preventive health, aged care, and medical research—providing an interesting model for possible reference in Sarawak’s health reform efforts.
