# Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section (MaHTAS)

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/mahtas-malaysia/  
OnCo record `mahtas-malaysia` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The health technology assessment unit of Malaysia's Ministry of Health. It assesses new medicines, devices and procedures, writes the national clinical practice guidelines and scans for emerging technologies.

## Summary

MaHTAS sits in the Medical Development Division of the Ministry of Health and describes itself as the ministry's custodian of evidence- and value-based medicine. It produces health technology assessment reports on drugs, biologics, devices, equipment, procedures and programmes, assessing effectiveness, safety, cost-effectiveness and organisational, social and ethical issues; it coordinates the development of clinical practice guidelines; and it runs horizon scanning for emerging technologies.

The National Strategic Plan for Cancer Control Programme 2021-2025 reports that the ministry's HTA unit assessed low-dose CT for lung cancer screening in 2017 and, because the test had high sensitivity but low specificity in high-risk people, recommended it only in a research setting; Malaysia has no national lung screening programme. The plan also describes value-based medicine as the ministry's route to deciding whether a new therapy is used in its hospitals.

OnCo found no published cost-effectiveness threshold for Malaysia. The coordinates are a Putrajaya centroid; the section's address was not read.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: MaHTAS; Cawangan Penilaian Teknologi Kesihatan
- City: Putrajaya, MY
- Type: government
- Website: https://mymahtas.moh.gov.my

## Sources

- MaHTAS: Info korporat: https://mymahtas.moh.gov.my/index.php/about-us/info-korporat
- Ministry of Health: National Strategic Plan for Cancer Control Programme 2021-2025, section on screening (PDF): https://www.iccp-portal.org/system/files/plans/National_Strategic_Plan_for_Cancer_Control_Programme_2021-2025.pdf

## Connected records

- cancers: [Lung cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-cancer/)
- institutions: [Institut Kanser Negara (National Cancer Institute, Malaysia)](https://onco.cc/institutions/institut-kanser-negara/), [Ministry of Health Malaysia](https://onco.cc/institutions/ministry-of-health-malaysia/), [National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), Malaysia](https://onco.cc/institutions/npra-malaysia/)
- terms: [Health technology assessment (HTA), reimbursement and QALYs](https://onco.cc/terms/hta/)

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