'1Malaysia' clinics have been set up with the urban poor in mind to provide a form of financed healthcare and to reduce the burden on overcrowded government clinics," said the Health Ministry's director general Ismail Merican.

"Healthcare is becoming increasingly expensive and if the government does not act, there will come a time will come when the public can no longer afford it," he said.

"There are a special group of people with special needs - the urban poor. So far we have been concentrating on the rural poor. We have rural clinics run by assistant medical officers and nurses.

"They have been running for decades. And because of the strength of the rural healthcare system, Malaysia is often said to have among the best healthcare systems in the world.

"The recently established '1Malaysia' clinics fill this need and they are equivalent to normal government clinics, which are manned by medical assistants (MAs)."

Reporter: Aidila Razak & S Pathmawathy
Editor: Azreen Madzlan
Camera: Amir Abdullah