Malaysia Boosts Healthcare with RM350M Digital Investment, Australasia Forms Digital Health Assurance Body

The Malaysian government has allocated an additional RM350 million ($87 million) to enhance internet connectivity and electronic medical records (EMRs) in its public health system. This is part of a larger effort to modernize the country's healthcare system, with a goal of achieving 'One Record, One Citizen' by 2028.

The initiative will cover 150 government hospitals and 2,488 public healthcare facilities across Malaysia. By implementing cloud-based clinical management systems, the government aims for over half of patients (81%) to receive treatment within an hour.

Separately, the Digital Health Standards Council of Australasia (DHSCA) has been established to assess and provide assurance for digital health technologies and artificial intelligence in healthcare. The council will use its six-domain GUARDS framework to evaluate AI technologies that fall below the Software as a Medical Device threshold.