KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) enforcement officers visited at least one medical clinic today to enforce a medicine price display mandate.
A person complained in the Malaysian Primary Care Network – a closed Facebook group touted to be the largest group of medical doctors on a social media platform with nearly 17,000 members – that KPDN officers visited his clinic today on Labour Day.
“Not bad working in public holiday. Asking for medication price and why I did not display it!” wrote the person in a Facebook post, as sighted by CodeBlue.
“Gave me warning. They will be back in 3 days time! Saman kalau tak display (they will compound if we don’t display). Don’t play play. Rajin buat kerja gomen kita ya, public holiday pun turun padang (our government is very hardworking, going down to the ground even on a public holiday).”
The person did not specify in his Facebook post if the visit was by KPDN officers alone without the presence of Ministry of Health (MOH) officers.
The Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Marking for Drug) Order 2025 was only gazetted and published on the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) federal legislation portal yesterday, less than 24 hours before the date of effect on May 1 today.
A drug price display FAQ was only uploaded on the MOH’s Pharmacy Services Programme website yesterday at 4.39pm.
In a joint press release issued yesterday evening, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad and Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Armizan Mohd Ali promised a three-month grace period of “educational enforcement”, after the medicine price display order under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) came into effect today.
The ministers also claimed that the MOH would be in charge of enforcing the order under Act 723, assisted by KPDN.
Contraventions of the drug price display order – applicable to private health care facilities and community pharmacies – are punishable with a maximum RM50,000 fine for a person and a fine of up to RM100,000 for corporate bodies.
