Parti Sosialis Malaysia handed a memorandum to the Finance Ministry today over the implementation of MySalam, a health insurance scheme for the bottom 40 percent (B40) income group.

The group of 20 PSM members, led by central committee member Dr D Michael Jeyakumar, appeared at the Finance Ministry lobby at 10.30am, approximately an hour after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched MySalam at the same venue.

When contacted, Jeyakumar said his party feared that the implementation of MySalam may undermine the public healthcare system, as patients and specialists who serve in public hospitals would turn to private institutions.

"It will end up expanding the private hospital market and this would lead to most specialists going to private hospitals.

"At present, there are only 10 percent of specialists with more than 10 years of experience in government hospitals, while the rest are already in the private healthcare system.

"Seventy percent of inpatients seek treatment at government hospitals, while 30 percent go to private healthcare institutions," he said.

On Nov 2 last year, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said a private insurance company had agreed to contribute RM2 billion to initiate MySalam, which is expected to benefit 4.1 million B40 households.

Jeyakumar urged the government to use the RM2 billion for a fund to provide health equipment for those seeking treatment in public hospitals instead.

The former Sungai Siput MP said this was the third memorandum that PSM has submitted to Finance Ministry, with the previous two going unanswered.

"In our memorandum today, we are seeking an appointment to meet the minister. We will see how it goes."

According to Jeyakumar, the Finance Ministry did not meet the Malaysian Medical Association and other health-related NGOs who had raised concerns over the scheme.

"This is not a very good practice (by the ministry)," he said.