KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is organising a march next Tuesday to protest against a medicine price display mandate that came into effect today.
The march, scheduled for May 6 at 10am in Putrajaya, will start at the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) headquarters and head towards the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Doctors have waited patiently and engaged in good faith, but the government’s decision to proceed unilaterally with the implementation of medicine price display without engaging and answering the valid concerns of the medical fraternity is both disappointing and concerning,” MMA president Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira said in a statement last night.
“General practitioners across the country have every reason to feel frustrated and angry, as this unilateral imposition of extended powers of a non-medical Act (Act 723) and new policy to be enforced only adds to the already excessive regulation of the profession.
“In view of these unresolved issues, the MMA strongly urges the government to halt any requirement for medicine price display at private clinics.
“This will allow for proper engagement and resolution of the concerns raised, including the need for a long-overdue revision of private GP consultation fees and engagement on the mechanism and scope of the medicine price display policy.”
Dr Kalwinder pointed out that private general practitioner (GP) consultation fees under the 7th fee schedule – capped at RM10 to RM35 – haven’t been reviewed in 33 years.
“During the ‘Advocacy’ meeting on price transparency held in February this year, in the presence of hundreds of attendees, the Minister of Health had clearly stated that medicine price display for private GP clinics would only be implemented after the long overdue revision of private GP consultation fees is done. Unfortunately and sadly, this commitment has not been honoured,” he said.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Armizan Mohd Ali gazetted an order yesterday under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) that mandates the display of the prices of all medicines for human use in private health care facilities and community pharmacies.
The price display mandate includes medicines that are “not displayed for sale”, but are “sold, supplied or administered” to consumers. Drug price lists can be displayed in physical form or on an electronic device.
The MOH is in charge of enforcing the drug price display mandate, assisted by KPDN. Contraventions of the order are punishable with a maximum RM100,000 fine for corporate bodies.
“When doctors are excluded from decisions that affect their practice, it’s not reform — it’s betrayal. Government policy is strangling GPs, already burdened by years of failed reforms,” MMA president-elect Dr R. Arasu posted on X yesterday.
“If you want health care cost to be sustainable, strengthen GPs — don’t strangulate us. This walk to Putrajaya is not just symbolic; it’s a plea for survival.”
Dr Arasu described primary care as the foundation of sustainability, autonomy, and accessibility in health care.
“Ignore it, and we risk rising costs, broken systems, and a public left behind. This is our moment to act,” he said, adding that he will be attending the doctors’ march.
The march by private GPs will be the first doctors’ protest in four years after a strike by government doctors that was organised by Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) in 2021.
