Don’t compare us with retailers, GPs tell govt

MMA president-elect Dr R Thirunavukarasu addressing general practitioners outside Perdana Putra.
PUTRAJAYA: Doctors have urged the government not to compare professional services like private general practitioners (GPs) with retailers and sundry shops in implementing the mandatory display of drug prices.

Speaking at a gathering of over 400 GPs near Perdana Putra here, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president-elect Dr R Thirunavukarasu reiterated that the new rule should be enforced under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998.

“Doctors provide professional services, they have to go through five to six years of medical school, two years of housemanship, and compulsory public service, which means it would take up to 10 years before they can open a clinic of their own.

“Additionally, there’s a process for patients to be treated – they have to be registered, consult the doctor, and do a physical test before medicine is given.

“You can’t compare professional medical services with opening a grocery store,” he said after entering Perdana Putra with nine other representatives to submit a memorandum on the issue to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

In their memorandum, the GPs demanded that the government remove private clinics from the purview of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 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.

Earlier, more than 200 doctors and private GPs gathered near the PMO to protest the mandatory display of drug prices under a law unrelated to the health sector.

The number of participants swelled to over 400 over the course of the day, although the head of MMA’s private general medical practitioners section, Dr Parmjit Singh Kuldip Singh, claimed that more than 600 doctors were present.

They were initially going to march from the health ministry’s headquarters to the PMO, but it is understood that they decided to gather at Perdana Putra directly as some participants were elderly.

The health ministry previously announced that medicine price displays at clinics would be mandatory from May 1.

The ministry said it would not impose fines or take action during the first three months of the new rule, to educate the public and monitor the policy’s implementation.

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