A National Policy for Quality in Health Care sets out a Government’s primary objectives to assure quality in health care and continuously improve the care. 

We know that quality is never an accident, always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution. Moreover, it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.

The Malaysian Institute for Health Systems Research (IHSR), in a partnership with the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH), jointly and successfully organised to an overwhelming response to participate in the National Seminar for Quality in Healthcare free virtual seminar on October 5, 2021.

It comes when the public health care system is in dire need of refocusing its collective efforts towards improving the quality of care provided for the whole health system – public and private.

Highlights of the virtual seminar included the launching of the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare(NPQH) and a keynote address by Tan Sri Dato’Seri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, the Director-General of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia(MoHIM). He, in turn, launched the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare document.

This day-long seminar had many distinguished Malaysian speakers, including Dr. Samsiah Awang, Head, Centre for Healthcare Quality Research Initiative for Health Systems Research(IHSR), Datuk Dr. Kuljit Singh, the President of the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia(APHM), Dr. Nor’ Aishah Abu Bakar, Deputy Director, Medical Care Quality Section(MoHM), and Dr. Fadzilah Shaik Allaudin, Senior Deputy Director of the Planning Division(MoHM).

Distinguished invited speakers were the Director, HEALTHQUAL, Institute for Clinical Health Sciences, UCSF, Prof. Dr. Bruce Agins, Dr. Shams Syed, and Ms. Nana A. Mensah-Abrampah. Both Shams and Nana are from the Department of Integrated Health Services, World Health Organisation, Geneva.

The many exciting topics represented ranged from National Quality Policy and Strategy: The Global Imitative/Perspective, National Policy for Quality in Healthcare for Malaysia: Where Are We Heading?, Clinical Governance and its impact on Quality in a Private Hospital, Safety and Quality in Digital Health and Innovation, Malaysian Patient Safety Goals 2.0: Concise and Practical, Compassion: The Heart of Quality and Improving Quality of Care in Resource-Limited Settings.

You may view a flipbook of the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare from (this link will open in a new tab of your current browser window) http://library.nih.gov.my/e-doc/flipbook/npqh-2022-2026/index.html

As I see it, this Malaysian version of a National Policy for Quality in Healthcare document attempts to provide all public and private health officials with the strategic direction they need to follow to assure quality in health care and continuous improvement in the healthcare provided in Malaysia.