Govt officers threatened clinics despite price display grace period, claims group
FPMPAM president Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson called on the government to issue a gazetted directive confirming the grace period, legally binding on all enforcement personnel.
PETALING JAYA : A private doctors' group claims domestic trade and cost of living ministry enforcement officers visited clinics today and threatened to issue them summonses for failing to display medicine prices.
The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners' Associations Malaysia said the spot checks occurred despite the three-month grace period given by the health, and domestic trade and cost of living ministries yesterday.
'According to a Facebook post, the officers issued three-day ultimatums to the clinics they visited and warned them to comply or face legal summonses,' FPMPAM president Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson said in a statement.
He said the joint statement previously issued by the ministries specified a grace period, but the officers ignored this by conducting checks today.
Shanmuganathan said the officers' actions 'confirm our worst fear that there is no real grace period.
'This is not policy reform, it is regulatory betrayal,' he said.
He called on the government to issue a gazetted directive confirming the grace period, legally binding on all enforcement personnel.
He also asked for an immediate halt to all punitive inspections until clear guidelines are released and disseminated to both clinics and ground officers.
In a joint statement yesterday, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad and domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali promised a three-month grace period of 'educational enforcement'.
The medicine price display order under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 came into effect today.
Contravention of the order is punishable with a maximum RM50,000 fine for a person and a fine of up to RM100,000 for corporate bodies.
Shanmuganathan said the federation plans to begin documenting enforcement actions and providing legal advice to clinics for 'professional survival under arbitrary power'.
He reiterated its support for transparency in medicine pricing, but said such policy goals must not come at the cost of legal uncertainty, administrative bullying, and public confusion.
Earlier today, an individual complained on Facebook that ministry officers visited his clinic today on Labour Day.
'Not bad, working on a public holiday. Asking for medication price and why I did not display it!
'They gave me a warning. They will be back in three days time! They will fine us if we don't display prices,' wrote the person in a post on the Malaysian Primary Care Network, a closed Facebook group.
However, he did not specify if the visit was by domestic trade and cost of living ministry officers alone or with the presence of health ministry officers.
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