PM wants health ministry to clarify law used for drug price display rule
Fahmi Fadzil said the government was reviewing the part of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 pertaining to consultation fees imposed by private clinics.
PUTRAJAYA : Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has called on the health minister to explain the use of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 for the implementation of the mandatory display of drug prices, government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said today.
Fahmi, who is also communications minister, said some quarters had asked why this Act, instead of the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, was being used for the new policy.
'The prime minister has instructed that this matter be clarified promptly,' he told a press conference at his ministry here today.
He also said health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad had informed the Cabinet that the Seventh Schedule to the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 – which pertains to consultation fees imposed by private clinics – was under review.
'A Cabinet paper has already been prepared and is expected to be circulated within one to two weeks, after which the matter will be brought back to the Cabinet for a decision,' he added.
Yesterday, more than 600 doctors and private general practitioners (GPs) gathered near the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to protest the mandatory display of drug prices under a law unrelated to the health sector.
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president-elect Dr R Thirunavukarasu, along with nine other representatives, submitted a memorandum on the issue to the PMO.
He reiterated that the new rule should be enforced under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act.
The doctors urged the government not to compare professional services provided by GPs with retailers and sundry shops in implementing the policy.
The health ministry had said that the use of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act for drug price displays aimed to promote transparency and affordability, not disrupt the work of private GPs.
In their memorandum, the GPs demanded that the government remove private clinics from the purview of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act and review the consultation fees of GPs.
Consultation fees have remained unchanged for the last 30 years.
They also want the health ministry to regulate third-party administrators' control over private clinics and reassess foreign ownership in the healthcare sector.
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