Editing Penang (section)

==Healthcare==
[[File:Penang General Hospital 2025.jpg|thumb|[[Penang General Hospital]] in [[George Town, Penang|George Town]] is a 1,100-bedded [[tertiary referral hospital]] within northwestern Malaysia.<ref name="Voon-2020">{{Cite journal |last=Kelvin Voon |date=6 November 2020 |title=How do Surgeons Weather the Storm of COVID-19 Pandemic? |url=https://www.e-mjm.org/2020/v75n6/COVID-19.pdf |journal=Medical Journal of Malaysia }}</ref>]]
Health care in Penang is provided by a [[Two-tier healthcare|two-tier system]] consisting of public and private hospitals. The [[Penang General Hospital]], administered and funded by the [[Ministry of Health (Malaysia)|Malaysian Ministry of Health]], is the main [[tertiary referral hospital]] within northwestern Malaysia.<ref name="Voon-2020" /> It is supported by five other public hospitals in Penang, all of which also come under the administration of the country's Ministry of Health.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Utama |url=https://jknpenang.moh.gov.my/hpp/ |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=jknpenang.moh.gov.my |language=MS }}</ref>

In addition, Penang has 19 private hospitals that offer specialist services, making the state the leading hub for [[medical tourism in Malaysia]].<ref name="Mulyanto-2023" /><ref name="Penang Institute-2023">{{Cite web |title=Penang's Healthcare Facilities |url=https://penanginstitute.org/resources/key-penang-statistics/visualisations-of-key-indicators/penang-healthcare/ |access-date=10 December 2023 |website=Penang Institute |language=en-US }}</ref> The total number of beds in public and private hospitals in Penang is 4,329, or nearly 248.7 beds per 10,000 people, higher than the national average.<ref name="Penang Institute-2023" /> While private hospitals in Penang operate independently of the Ministry of Health, there have been instances of public-private cooperation, such as during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] which saw private hospitals sharing equipment and taking in non-COVID-19 patients in need of urgent medical procedures.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yeong |first=Pey Jung |date=13 July 2021 |title=How Has the Pandemic Affected Penang's Health Landscape? A Preliminary Study |url=https://penanginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/how-has-the-pandemic-affected-Penangs-health-landscape.pdf |journal=Penang Institute }}</ref>

The infant mortality rate in Penang has decreased significantly, dropping by 85% between 1970 and 2000 to 5.7 per 1,000 live births.<ref name="OECD">{{Cite journal |title=Higher Education in Regional and City Development : State of Penang, Malaysia |journal=OECD }}</ref> Similarly, the neonatal mortality rate has also decreased by 84.7% during the corresponding period to 4.1 per 1,000 live births. {{As of|2023}}, the life expectancy at birth in Penang is 71.9 years for men and 77.2 years for women.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Sep 2023 |title=Abridged Life Tables, Malaysia, 2021-2023 |journal=[[Department of Statistics Malaysia]] |issn=0128-0007 }}</ref> According to an official survey in 2019, Penang recorded one of the lowest obesity rates in Malaysia, with an obesity rate of 18.6%.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2019 |title=National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019 Technical Report |url=https://iku.moh.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2019/Report_NHMS2019-NCD_v2.pdf |journal=[[Ministry of Health (Malaysia)|Ministry of Health]] |volume=1 |isbn=9789671815922 }}</ref>