Page 27 - npqh NATIONAL POLICY FOR QUALITY IN HEALTHCARE : Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements 2022-2026

National Policy for Quality in Healthcare
Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements

1.3 Quality in the MOH

1.3.1 Quality Journey

More than three decades ago in 1985, the Ministry of Health Malaysia had the visionary
foresight to formally demonstrate its commitment to Quality Improvement with the
launching of the Quality Assurance Programme (QAP), which aims to improve quality,
efficiency and effectiveness of health services rendered by the MOH and to provide an
organised and systematic evaluation of quality activities (14). The creation of the QAP
was consistent with the emphasis on quality and the coordination of quality-related
activities that were called for in Fourth Malaysia Plan (1981-1985).

Even before that, the statutory registration of health professionals such as doctors,
nurses and pharmacists, licencing of healthcare facilities including hospitals, clinics
and pharmacies, regulations for medicines and codes of conduct and ethics have been
in effect for decades. Regulation in healthcare has three key purposes: (i) to improve
performance and quality; (ii) to provide assurance that minimally acceptable standards
are achieved and (iii) to provide accountability both for levels of performance and value
for money (15).

More initiatives have been introduced over the years as shown in Figure 2 and among
the key milestones were:

Publication of The Strategic Plan for Quality in Healthcare in 1998 which
was the seminal document that was formulated to provide the impetus and
the direction for MOH to achieve its goals to institutionalise and internalise
quality in the health system to an optimal level within the next decade. This
document outlined four policies and 14 strategies (16).

Establishment of the MOH Innovation Steering Committee in 2011 following
government (Prime Minister's Office) instruction co-chaired by the DG and the
Secretary General. This changed the existing structure of quality committees
in the MOH whereby the National QAP Committee previously chaired by the
DG is now one of the three subcommittees under the new structure and led by
the DDG for Research & Technical Support.

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