Consumer groups hail drug price display law as major win
GEORGE TOWN: Consumer groups have welcomed the enforcement of a new law requiring the display of medicine prices, describing it as a major step towards transparency and accountability in Malaysia's healthcare sector.
The regulation, which came into effect yesterday after more than five years of public consultation and negotiations, aims to prevent consumers from being overcharged.
Advocacy leaders, including representatives from the Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) and the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA), lauded the long-awaited initiative as crucial for protecting patients from excessive pricing and ensuring fairer access to essential medicines.
The new regulation, the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Marking for Drug) Order 2025, requires all private healthcare facilities and community pharmacies to clearly display the prices of all human medicines, including prescription, over-the-counter, traditional, and health supplements.
Consumer protection groups said the new law was a crucial step towards addressing longstanding issues of price variation that had disadvantaged consumers.
"This new law is a price display mechanism, and must not be confused with price control. It is the fundamental right of a consumer to be informed, to be heard, to choose, and to be safe in relation to the goods they consume," they said.
By mandating price display, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) has taken a step towards upholding consumers' universal rights to information and choice.
"This enables Malaysians to compare medicine prices, plan their healthcare spending, and avoid being overcharged," they said in a joint statement.
With Malaysia's medical inflation rate reaching 15 per cent — well above regional and global averages—consumer protection groups said transparent pricing was a necessary first step in curbing unjustified price hikes and protecting household budgets.
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