Malaysia has built a reputation as the ASEAN digital economy hub, supported by its rapid growth in digital infrastructure, strong investments in expansion of data centres, and investments in artificial intelligence (AI). These efforts are aligned with its ambitions to become the regional leader in the digital economy by 2030. Detailed in its Digital Economy Blueprint, its strategy is to leverage digital technology to enhance the country’s growth and foster an inclusive digital economy.
Despite efforts to drive the nation’s digital economy, one sector has been slow to benefit, Healthcare.
Malaysia’s healthcare system is constantly under pressure, with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease accounting for nearly 72% of premature deaths. NCDs cost the Malaysian economy a staggering RM 64.2 billion (about 4.2% of GDP in 2021) in combined public health expenditure and productivity losses. Serving over 70% of Malaysians, the public healthcare system becomes increasingly strained, manifesting in patients facing long wait times, clinics facing workforce shortages, an uneven distribution of resources, and inadequate infrastructure to meet the patient demand.
One solution to this problem is Digital Health Solutions.
Leveraging technology advances, and the increasing adoption and acceptance of AI, can alleviate the pressures on Malaysia’s public health clinics, reduce treatment delays, improve preventative care, free up hospital capacity, and improve patient outcomes.
The telemedicine market alone in Malaysia is forecast to expand with a compound annual growth rate CAPR of 18.6% from 2025 to 2030, to reach a projected revenue of US$ 6,515.4 million by 2030. However, digital health solutions are not limited to telemedicine, it also includes services such as mHealth Apps, remote patient monitoring and wearables, health analytics and AI diagnostics, digital pharmacies, and specialist SaaS. The combination of these digital health solutions makes it clear that this is a growing market with enormous potential for social good. Organisations, such as Digital Health Malaysia, are actively working to advance this agenda and build collaborative networks to push the implementation to the forefront of the government’s priorities.
Malaysia was one of the first countries in ASEAN to launch a telemedicine policy, launching its Telemedicine Blueprint in 1997. This blueprint was aimed at digitising and integrating healthcare records, allowing for lifetime records of patients’ health, and ultimately, better continuity of care. This blueprint was later revised in 2000, before being integrated into the Integrated Health Enterprise in 2007. Digital health records were then prioritised in the MOH Digitalisation Strategic Plan (2021-2025). Yet despite decades of ambition, progress has been slow. As of 2024, only 3% of health clinics have adopted digital health records. Fragmentation, inconsistent implementation, and a lack of clear mandates and frameworks have all contributed to the limited progress.
By contrast, neighbouring Singapore, has a well-established national healthcare ecosystem (NEHR) centred on “One Patient, One Health Record”. This centralised healthcare record system is owned by Singapore’s Ministry of Health, and managed by their own HealthTech agency, Synapxe. This system has achieved success by enforcing mandatory participation from all licensed healthcare providers. Every clinic, whether public or private is required to contribute data to the platform.
The mandated use of the single platform seamlessly integrates a patient’s healthcare records, ensuring continuity of care even if the patient switches to a different healthcare provider, and avoids the pitfalls of fragmented systems that Malaysia currently faces.
The lack of legal and regulatory clarity in data privacy and digital therapeutics also poses risks for digital health rollout. At the point of writing, there is currently no regulation or law that explicitly governs patient data. Without clarity and strict guidelines, all the key players, including the investors, healthcare practitioners, and patients will not be able to fully embrace or trust the digital health system. Without trust in the system, digital health solutions fall short in uptake and impact.
Adequate and standardised infrastructure is also a prerequisite for the success of digital health solutions. Whilst Malaysia possesses high internet penetration of 97.7% in 2025, the quality of its connectivity, access to electricity, and clinic hardware are not always adequate for digital solutions. It was reported by SCMP that “half of Malaysians experience poor internet connectivity”. For patients living in more remote areas, such as the Orang Asli indigenous community that we met during one of our customised leadership programmes in June 2025, digital health solutions are simply not feasible, as connectivity is limited. Without reliable bandwidth, stable electricity, and updated clinic hardware, digital health tools cannot be used effectively.
Thailand, for example, has addressed this by introducing service standards for telemedicine, to ensure that telemedicine services are efficient, convenient, and standardised. Malaysia could benefit from a similar approach, mandating baseline infrastructure and digital readiness across all healthcare clinics including both rural and urban areas, improving healthcare inclusivity.
Beyond infrastructure, healthcare staff and patients need to be made more aware of digital health solutions that are available to them, with healthcare staff provided with adequate training to use the digital tools effectively. Systems must be kept updated to enable sustained use of the digital solutions, with improvements made along the way as technology improves. To do this the government must invest in public awareness campaigns and budget spending for digital health training for all healthcare providers, ensuring seamless integration of new digital solutions with the clinics’ existing operations.
It is clear that digital transformation of the healthcare system is a priority for Malaysia. This is evident through the publication of its multiple blueprints and mandates. However, in order to achieve its targets and goals as the digital economy hub of ASEAN, it must move away from simply publishing blueprints without any focus on the implementation actions.
The integration of the public and private healthcare system with a single mandated digital health system, such as the NEHR of Singapore can be a key enabler, in addition to enforcing a minimum standard for infrastructure requirements, enabling all clinics to utilise digital health solutions to improve inclusivity and lower barriers to healthcare access. It also requires the allocation of budget to promote digital health solutions and foster public trust and awareness, and equip healthcare providers with the training and tools to effectively benefit from digital health technology. Clear guidance and regulations on data governance are mandatory to safeguard patient data and ensure that the digital health tools can be developed with the legislation in mind.
Digital health solutions appear to have limitless potential to reduce healthcare costs for Malaysia, whilst improving access to healthcare, patient outcomes and alleviating strains on healthcare staff. With the right policies and infrastructure in place, digital health is poised to be a significant commercial opportunity for digital health technology providers.
Rebecca Yip
Rebecca Yip, PhD is a Programme Manager at GIFT HK where she manages executive leadership programmes contributing to redesigning society and enabling greater societal sustainability and resilience. Her interests include global shifts, socioeconomic development and the rise of Asia and its’ relationship with the West.
