KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has advised private general practitioners (GPs) to hold their ground, as a drug price display order still hasn’t been gazetted.
MMA president Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira told GPs that an FAQ distributed at a February briefing by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) on medicine price display had no force of law on its own.
“It is important to note that any policy on price display can and will only come into force once gazettement is done. Till now, there has been no intimation that any gazettement has been done and published,” Dr Kalwinder said in a WhatsApp message to GPs today, as sighted by CodeBlue.
Although the MOH’s Pharmacy Services Programme has an FAQ on drug price display at private health care facilities and community pharmacies, both the MOH and KPDN previously said that the regulatory order would be gazetted under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723), under KPDN’s jurisdiction.
Despite the much-hyped May 1 target date of enforcement tomorrow, the drug price display order has yet to be gazetted and published on the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) federal legislation portal.
“Hence, the issue of implementation and compliance on 1st May 2025 does not arise as we do not know what is being gazetted and the manner of display being asked of all stakeholders,” Dr Kalwinder told GPs.
“We will see the gazette and see what are the timelines on implementation and also on the enforcement and also who is being given the authority on enforcement.
“Any policy requiring immediate implementation on 1st May, if done, will not only be unreasonable but unjust.”
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad and Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Armizan Mohd Ali have yet to fulfill MMA’s requests for meetings to discuss the issue, Dr Kalwinder said.
The doctors’ group reiterated that the MOH did not formally engage MMA, nor held stakeholder engagement sessions on the planned use of Act 723 on the health care sector, the manner of price display, or enforcement concerns.
“We hope that this makes MMA’s stand clear and if the policy is gazetted without meeting stakeholders, it will indeed be disappointing and will only encourage the argument by some of taking legal recourse as a consequence,” said Dr Kalwinder.
MMA urged GPs to inform their patients, in the interest of transparency, that any official changes can only be done once the policy is gazetted with defined timeframes, adding that private clinics should not be pressured to display medicine prices outside the provisions of the law.
“MMA calls upon all doctors, GPs and all related stakeholders to stand together for the medical profession. The profession has always been the guardian of health care of the country and we will always do what is best for patients, doctors and the country.”
Besides GPs, dental practitioners and community pharmacies have also come out to oppose the drug price display policy.
