Malaysia targets one psychiatrist per 40,000 people to ease mental health shortage
The Health Ministry announced a goal of reducing the psychiatrist-to-population ratio from 1:69,000 to 1:40,000 by expanding specialist training and using task-shifting.
At the 2026 National Mental Health Month Celebration, the Health Ministry set a target of one psychiatrist for every 40,000 residents, improving on the existing 1:69,000 ratio. Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad explained that the plan relies on expanding specialist training to boost the psychiatric workforce, which currently includes about 400 of the roughly 700 registered psychiatrists employed by the public sector. To further address the shortage, the ministry will implement a task-shifting approach, assigning counsellors and family medicine specialists to handle portions of the mental-health workload.
Malaysia has 10,000 registered counsellors, with 300 serving within the ministry. Mental-health services are available at 1,116 government clinics, while psychiatric care is offered at 68 ministry hospitals and four psychiatric institutions.
Why it matters
Increasing psychiatrist availability is crucial for meeting rising mental-health needs in Malaysia.
In this story
Related stories
2 in this thread