KUALA LUMPUR, August 12 — Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni told Parliament today that itemised billing in private medical clinics was only mandatory upon request, directly contradicting Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Deputy Minister Fuziah Salleh.
Lukanisman was responding to a supplementary question by Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PN-Kuala Langat), who asked the deputy health minister to clarify Fuziah’s “shocking” remarks in the Dewan Rakyat last Wednesday that the National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) has “mandated” prescriptions and itemised billing across board, not just contingent upon request, following a drug price display mandate.
“What we’re doing now, in relation to the statement on itemised bills, this wasn’t actually literally stated in meeting minutes,” said Lukanisman, without specifying if he was referring to Naccol meeting minutes.
“But patients actually have the right to request; if patients request for an itemised bill, the health service must provide an itemised bill based on current regulations.”
Lukanisman did not address the issue of whether the government was also mandating prescriptions for every consultation, not just upon a patient’s request.
According to the August 6 Hansard, Fuziah told the Dewan Rakyat – in response to Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Opposition-Bukit Gantang) who asked about the outcome of three Naccol meetings this year – that Naccol has “mandated prescriptions for every consultation” and “mandated itemised billing in clinics”, besides mandatory medicine price display in private medical clinics and community pharmacies.
“These were among the significant Naccol decisions in the health aspect,” Fuziah had said.
KPDN serves as the secretariat for Naccol.
In the Dewan Rakyat today, Lukanisman also claimed that KPDN’s authority over drug price display was only to “see whether there is a huge discrepancy between drug prices. Then only KPDN comes in.”
“However, MOH’s (Ministry of Health) technical expertise will evaluate on whether implementation of drug price display is in compliance or not – that’s the simple language for us to understand drug price display.”
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said in a written parliament reply last July 31 that KPDN was deputising MOH’s pharmacy enforcement officers as KPDN’s own assistant price controllers to enforce drug price display.
The Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Marking for Drug) Order 2025 – which came into effect last May 1 under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) – merely requires the display of retail medicine prices by private health care facilities and community pharmacies.
If KPDN were to take action against private health care facilities for discrepancies between the displayed medicine price and the charge to patients, as indicated by Lukanisman, this would require mandatory itemised billing, not contingent upon request, to enable the authorities to make a comparison.
But in the same breath, the deputy health minister claimed that itemised billing was only mandatory upon request.
Lukanisman also said the MOH is currently conducting “very comprehensive” stakeholder engagement sessions with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) on reviewing private general practitioners’ (GP) consultation fees that have stagnated at a rate of RM10 to RM35 for 33 years.
