Gerakan has urged the government to take a re-look on the benefits of Socso and use the scheme to help people with critical illnesses, instead of asking them to use their EPF savings.

Gerakan’s head of central bureau on public health and social development, Datuk Dr Ng Keong Chye, said the party does not agree with EPF’s board decision to allow withdrawal for critical illnesses.

“We propose that EPF savings should only be allowed except for patients with life-threatening conditions such as like cancer and heart diseases. Then part of their savings can be withdrawn to pay their medical expenses,” he said in a statement.

Dr Ng, who is also Ketari State Assemblyman, said EPF saving was for retired life expenses and should be strictly used for this purpose.

He said Socso, with its huge financial reserve, could be used to cover the people’s healthcare.

“Almost every worker is contributing to Socso but most of the time, he or she does not get much benefit from Socso,” he said, adding that in some countries like Taiwan, employees contribute monthly to a scheme which pays for their healthcare expenses.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO)’s guidelines, Dr Ng said, a nation’s allocation for healthcare expenditure should be about 7% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Whereas in Malaysia, he said, so far our allocation for that purpose is only 4.8%.

Thus, he said the government should be able to absorb more health costs of the people.

EPF on Monday announced a list of 36 critical illnesses for which patients are allowed to withdraw their savings from EPF. MTUC has slammed the move, saying the money should be kept for one’s old age and that the government should absorb the costs through its hospitals and healthcare benefits.