KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — Minister of Health Dr Zaliha Mustafa said today her ministry aims to upgrade public community clinics with certain equipment like x-ray machines and build test laboratories to reduce reliance on hospitals.

Priority will be towards public clinics in rural areas where hospitals are often far from locals, Dr Zaliha said during Minister's Question Time.

"We are exploring and God willing will implement. I admit right now health clinics (KK) do not have one to seven," she said, referring to the seven universal pillars of quality of healthcare services.

"Our facilities are inadequate to meet local needs. So because KK is the facility nearest to the community God willing we will formulate a new policy whereby the upcoming public clinics will have four, three, two and one...that means they would at least have facilities like x-ray machines, for example, or laboratories," the minister added.

KK stands for "klinik kesihatan", the Malay name of the public health clinics.

Public health experts have long called on policymakers to address overcrowding at government hospitals and clinics including its emergency departments, one of the longstanding legacy issues that Dr Zaliha vowed to tackle upon her appointment.

The ministry said underfunding and severe manpower shortage are among the problem's main causes.

The Malaysian public healthcare system is one of the most affordable globally because of its universal healthcare coverage policy.

Government health facilities provide virtually near-free primary healthcare services and heavily subsidised secondary and tertiary care services which are largely funded by federal government revenues.