Private clinic doctors threaten RM20 surcharge over new price display rule

PETALING JAYA: A private doctors’ group has advised its members to add a RM20 fee to patients’ bills to cover the cost of complying with new government rules requiring clinics to display service prices.

In a statement today, the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM) said the “regulatory compliance charge” is necessary to deal with rising expenses caused by the “over-regulation” of private healthcare.

FPMPAM said the proposed RM20 addition will help clinics cover compliance costs such as medical indemnity, waste disposal fees and compliance with data protection laws.

The charge can be adjusted from time to time when newer laws are imposed, it said.

This comes after health minister Dzulkelfly Ahmad recently said the government would require the prices of medication to be displayed in all private healthcare facilities from next year to boost transparency.

However, FPMPAM president Dr G Shanmuganathan said the price display rule is “unproductive and unnecessary”, warning it could hurt private healthcare.

“Such unwarranted regulations not only increase costs and decrease accessibility but will endanger the quality of care to patients.

“The public sector is already in a mess and now its policies are messing up the private sector as well,” he said in a statement.

Shanmuganathan said the new rule comes in the same vein as the government’s previous “quick-fix measures” such as sending medicines to patients by post and encouraging self-diagnosis and medication, which he claimed had led to the shutdown of many clinics.

He said general practitioners once managed 60% of outpatient visits but now their patient numbers are falling.

“The patient loads of general practitioners (GP) have dropped and many clinics are closing due to the cost of over-regulation, micromanagement and the boom in middlemen in healthcare,” he said.

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has also spoken out against the new rule recently, calling it impractical and costly.

“GP clinics provide professional healthcare services, not retail transactions. Displaying a full list of medication prices at the counter would significantly increase operational costs,” said MMA president Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira.

MMA said higher costs could force clinics to close, making it harder for people to get medical care.

Kalwinder also said many clinics have had to rely on the little profits they make from selling medications to cover their running costs, and are struggling with rising costs, stagnant fees and growing pressure from middlemen such as third-party administrators.