KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) has doubled or tripled its charges for consultation, admission, and other services this year, due to rising costs of medical consumables and equipment.
In a statement today carried by the New Straits Times, the public university hospital announced its new fees that came into effect last January 1, about six years since its last fee revision in 2019 that was “not comprehensive then.”
These included a 233 per cent increase of UMMC’s fee for follow-up specialist consultation from RM15 to RM50; a 200 per cent rise in the charge for general clinic consultation from RM5 to RM15; an 167 per cent increase of the fee for specialist consultation (RM30 to RM80); and a 150 per cent rise in the charge for ward admission in a single adult room (RM120 to RM300).
UMMC also listed its new rates for other services, including paediatric ward admission (RM270), emergency ward admission for adults (RM500), emergency ward admission for children (RM650), delivery room admission (RM700).
Advance payments for other services are as follows: paediatric and ophthalmology services (RM1,500), surgical and orthopaedic services (RM2,500), and critical care wards (intensive care unit, cardiac intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit, and paediatric intensive care unit) at RM5,000.
In an FAQ on its 2025 fee revision, UMMC said the fee review applied to all of its services.
“We will review fees at least once every five years, unless there is a significant change in the costs of services offered to patients,” said UMMC in its FAQ on a question of whether its fee review will be on an annual basis.
“There is a possibility that treatment charges may be reduced if costs drop in future.”
UMMC added that its new fees are still lower than private hospitals and that it provides the latest technology and facilities.
Employers that provide medical coverage for its employees at UMMC were charged the new rates from September 1 last year.
UMMC said it bases its charges on the Activity-Based Costing method that factors in all expenses, including equipment, labour, utilities, maintenance, raw materials, and other costs.
“This approach ensures a comprehensive calculation of the services provided to patients.”
The university hospital added that although its main source of funding was from the government, it was still responsible for generating its own income.
“The revision of charges is not aimed at profit maximisation, but rather at ensuring the financial stability and sustainability of UMMC in the long term.”
UMMC received about RM476.8 million under Budget 2025, a mere 4 per cent (RM18.4 million) increase from RM458.3 million the previous year. UMMC received the most funding from the federal government this year of all university hospitals.
The university hospital described its fee revision as part of its efforts to increase the quality of doctors’ training and treatment services.
UMMC is a public hospital run by Universiti Malaya under the Ministry of Higher Education; the university runs a separate private hospital, UM Specialist Centre.
UMMC is also the only public hospital in Petaling Jaya, as there is no Ministry of Health (MOH) hospital in the large urban area of Selangor.
The MOH is planning to introduce a national diagnostic-related groups (DRG) payment system to replace the fee-for-service model in private hospitals, following public uproar over soaring medical insurance premiums.
It is unclear if the government will mandate a DRG framework for all non-MOH hospitals that include not just private hospitals, but also university and military hospitals.
Unlike MOH hospitals, other public hospitals like university hospitals have more flexibility in setting charges that allows them to bring in the latest therapies that are unavailable in other government hospitals.
