BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The Ministry of Well being (MoH) has proposed a B$646 million price range for FY 2026/27, aimed toward driving effectivity whereas sustaining excessive requirements of protected and accessible care.
Throughout Tuesday’s Legislative Council session, Well being Minister Dato Dr Hj Md Isham Hj Jaafar offered a snapshot of Brunei’s medical panorama, highlighting rising price pressures and the continuing digitalisation of the healthcare system
Enhancing well being outcomes
Brunei at present allocates 2.2% of its GDP to healthcare—roughly half the regional common of 4% to 4.5%, Dato Dr Hj Md Isham stated.
Regardless of this, life expectancy rose from 77.7 years in 2019 to 79.1 years in 2024, transferring nearer to the Brunei Imaginative and prescient 2035 goal of 82 years.
Nevertheless, the minister famous that specialised care stays a big price driver, with B$159 million spent on abroad medical remedies, in addition to providers offered by native establishments such because the JPMC Specialist Centre and the GJPMC Cardiac Centre.
To curb long-term prices, B$4 million has been earmarked for Well being Promotion and Non-Communicable Illness Prevention Programme. Early screening initiatives are already yielding constructive outcomes:
• Coronary heart illness: Cardiovascular screenings rose by 85%, with 2,801 folks screened between 2019 and 2025.
• Breast most cancers: Screenings reached 13,061 ladies from 2019 to 2025, a 75% enhance.
• Colorectal most cancers: Screenings have greater than doubled from 234 folks in 2022 to 513 in 2025 — a 119% soar.
• Cervical most cancers: 10,750 ladies have been examined for HPV as of November 2025, with screening numbers rising by practically 57% over the past two years. 7.9% of these examined have been discovered to have high-risk HPV.
• Diabetes: Since 2024, 25,999 folks have undergone diabetic retinopathy screening, with roughly 10% requiring additional specialist referral.
Dato Dr Hj Md Isham shared that Brunei has now recognised weight problems as a non-communicable illness, with the sultanate changing into the primary WHO member state to pioneer the WHO Weight problems Continual Care Course by way of a main healthcare method.
The minister additionally flagged psychological well being as a rising concern, noting a 17% enhance in sufferers in search of therapy in 2024. The grownup psychiatry service at RIPAS Hospital now manages between 35 to 49 new instances each month, in addition to 800 follow-ups. Baby and adolescent providers handle about 10 new instances each month, in addition to 50 follow-ups.
Workforce growth
Brunei’s healthcare frontline is at present supported by 845 docs (55% native) and a couple of,816 nurses (94% native), alongside 460 allied well being professionals.
With a ratio of 1.9 docs and 6.1 nurses per 1,000 folks, Brunei stays barely above the worldwide common of 1.7 docs and three.6 nurses per 1,000 folks.
To maintain this momentum, the ministry is investing extra in its personnel. Between 2020 and 2025, 168 professionals acquired scholarships, together with 10 docs who accomplished superior specialty coaching.
An extra B$1.1 million has been authorized for human useful resource growth within the coming fiscal 12 months.
Digital transformation and infrastructure
The way forward for Bruneian healthcare is changing into more and more digital, with Bru-HIMS 2.0 scheduled for a pilot rollout at RIPAS Hospital in October 2026. The brand new system is anticipated to reinforce information integration and cybersecurity.
Concurrently, the BruHealth app can also be increasing its utility for appointments and queue administration with a brand new AI-powered function anticipated within the third quarter of 2026.
Supporting these digital leaps is a B$11 million allocation for bodily infrastructure. This contains upgrades to Suri Seri Begawan Hospital and a brand new block at RIPAS Hospital, alongside the development of recent well being centres in Mengkubau and Bandar Seri Begawan.
