PUTRAJAYA, Nov 10 — National healthcare inflation rose to 3.0 per cent in 2025, up from 1.3 per cent the previous year, driven by a 4.4 per cent increase in healthcare service prices.
The Malaysian Statistics Department (DOSM) said this increase is significant compared with the 0.9 per cent recorded for the Healthcare Services category in 2024.
The rise was driven by the health-related insurance expenditure class, which increased by 9.1 per cent in 2025, compared with no change in the previous year.
In the 2025 Annual Healthcare Price Index (HPI) report published today, it said the Medicines category also rose 2.8 per cent, up from 2.2 per cent in 2024.
This category accounts for the largest weight in the HPI at 38.9 per cent, with the increase driven by the sub-classes for medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical preparations, as well as herbal medicines and homoeopathic products.
Both sub-classes rose 4.5 per cent in 2025, up from 2.2 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Healthcare Equipment category rose 1.1 per cent, up from 0.6 per cent in 2024, driven by the Medical Products expenditure class, which rose 1.3 per cent.
DOSM added that the Medical Diagnostic Products sub-class also supported the increase, rising 1.6 per cent, up from 0.3 per cent the previous year.
For the record, the Health Price Index (HPI) measures price changes in health-related goods and services purchased by households, covering three main categories: Medicines, Medical Equipment, and Health Services.
The 2025 Annual HPI publication is the first detailed report from DOSM since the release of the Preliminary Report on the Malaysia Health Price Index 2025 in July.
