For COVID-2019: please click here.

For business-as-usual health systems, health policies & global health:

AT A GLANCE:

Malaysia’s Health System

1. What is a Health System? (The Star, 8 July 2019)
2. Do we want Health, or Healthcare? (The Star, 10 July 2019)
3. Health is more than just the Health Ministry (The Star, 18 July 2019)
4. “Don’t tell me what; tell me how” (The Star, 25 July 2019)
5. Cutting Queues in Public Hospitals (Penang Institute, 5 Aug 2019)
6. Paternalism in Healthcare: Part 1 (The Edge, 4 Nov 2019) – with Mark Cheong
7. Paternalism in Healthcare: Part 2 (The Edge, 11 Nov 2019) – with Mark Cheong
8. How to increase transparency in MOH (The Star, 15 Jan 2020)
9. Prevention over Cure (Penang Institute, 16 Aug 2019)
10. Is our system in crisis? Polio & Deregulation (The Star, 10 Dec 2019)

The Politics of Health

1. The Vital Signs of Merdeka (The Star, 5 Sept 2019)
2. Free to be Healthy (The Edge, 24 Aug 2019)
3. The Politics of Sihat Bersama 2030 (Malaysiakini, 18 Jan 2020)
4. How to Select a Health Minister (The Star, 4 Mar 2020)
5. Dear Health Minister – here are your priorities (The Star, 11 Mar 2020)

Health Financing & Resource Allocation

1. How much money should we allocate to health? (The Star, 21 July 2019)
2. Malaysia’s government must spend 10% only for health. (The Star, 7 Aug 2019)
3. How to improve stewardship of Health Ministry funds (The Star, 14 Aug 2019)
4. Where should MOH spend its money in 2020: Part 1 (The Star, 21 Aug 2019)
5. Where should MOH spend its money in 2020: Part 2 (The Star, 28 Aug 2019)
6. How do we decide on resource allocations? (The Star, 18 Sept 2019)
7. How to make budget decisions as fair as possible (The Star, 25 Sept 2019)
8. Reactions to Budget 2020 (The Star, 23 Oct 2019)
9. Reducing Moral Hazards (Penang Institute, 17 Mar 2020)

Controlling Healthcare Costs

1. Why are healthcare costs rising? (The Star, 12 Sept 2019)
2. How to reduce unnecessary healthcare demand and cost (The Star, 2 Oct 2019)
3. How to reduce costs of private hospitals, private insurance and medicines (The Star, 9 Oct 2019)

The Health Workforce

1. Future-proofing Malaysia’s Health Workforce (Penang Institute, 26 April 2019)
2. How many doctors does Malaysia need? (The Star, 6 Nov 2019)
3. How many medical schools does Malaysia need? (The Star, 20 Nov 2019)
4. How to choose the best medical students? (The Star, 4 Dec 2019)
5. How to reform Malaysia’s medical schools (The Star, 18 Dec 2019)

Leading & Governing Health Systems

1. Modern Medicine Conceals Weaknesses of Systems (Berita MMA, 13 Nov 2019). A bulletin of the Malaysian Medical Association.
2. How to reform Malaysia’s health governance (Berita MMA, 15 Jan 2020).

Joint Statements

1. Call for Motorcycle Safety (Malaysiakini and others, 2 Jan 2020). With 12 other surgeons and traumatologists.
2. Stand Firm on Smoking Ban (The Star and others, 15 Jan 2020). With seven professional associations.
3. Reinstate Critical Service Allowance (The Star and others, 30 Dec 2019). With associations representing dentists, doctors, medical assistants, nurses and pharmacists.

Polio in Sabah 

1. Mandatory Vaccines in Malaysia (Malaysiakini and others, 10 Dec 2019). Signed with 32 other doctors and professionals.
2. A Response by the Academy of Medicine Malaysia (The Star and others, 16 Dec 2019). For and with the AMM.
3. The Case for Vaccinating Non-Citizens (Malay Mail, 16 Dec 2019). With Tharani Loganathan.
4. The Case for Mandatory Vaccinations (The Edge, 17 Dec 2019)
5. The Geopolitics of Polio in Southeast Asia (Council on Foreign Relations, 20 Dec 2019)

Refugees, Migrants and Non-Citizens

1. Proposing a Non-Citizens Health Act (The Star and others,11 Jan 2020)
2. Working Paper on Global Refugee Health (Council on Foreign Relations, 30 Jan 2020). Co-authored with David Heymann, the physician who discovered Ebola in 1976.

Politics, Economics and Society (Non-Health Related)

1. #MakeMalaysiaBetter (Malaysiakini, 1 Aug 2015)
2. Where are the Malaysian Statesmen? (The Star, 30 Apr 2019)
3. Projecting Malaysia’s Soft Power (Penang Institute, 9 Aug 2019)
4. Economic benefits of flexible work arrangements (Penang Institute, 15 Nov 2019). With Darshan Joshi.
5. Non-economic benefits of flexible work arrangements (Penang Institute, 15 Nov 2019). With Darshan Joshi.
6. Lessons from Vision 2020 (The Star, 1 Jan 2020)

South East Asia

1. The brain drain of health professionals from SEA (Council on Foreign Relations, 11 Dec 2019)
2. Elite Capture in Southeast Asia (New Mandala, 10 Jan 2020)
3. The march of private healthcare in SEA (Council on Foreign Relations, 17 Jan 2020)