KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — The High Court here today granted an ad-interim stay (temporary pause) of enforcement of a drug price display mandate on private clinics initially scheduled for January 1, 2026.
High Court judge Alice Loke Yee Ching granted the ad-interim stay, pending a February 4 hearing of the stay application by doctors’ groups.
“After hearing lengthy submissions from both parties, the High Court has granted an ad-interim stay pending the disposal of the application for stay.
“In other words, the Price List Order cannot be enforced until the stay application has been heard and disposed of,” Abraham Au, counsel for eight applicants in a judicial review bid against the drug price display order, told CodeBlue.
The Edge reported that the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) are opposing the stay application by doctors’ associations, having filed an affidavit-in-reply yesterday in opposition to the stay.
Senior Federal Counsel (SFC) Azmi Aman reportedly said 89.9 per cent of more than 2,000 private clinics inspected nationwide were complying with the price transparency mandate.
However, Au and Gurdial Singh Nijar – who both represent seven medical and dental groups, and an individual general practitioner (GP) – as well as K. Shanmuga, who represents two applicants – Private Medical Practitioners Association of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (PMPASKL) and Medipulse Healthcare Sdn Bhd – said they needed time to respond to the government’s affidavit.
Shanmuga was quoted saying that the 2,000 clinics cited only represented a small portion of clinics nationwide.
Au told CodeBlue that the High Court has instructed applicants to file an affidavit-in-reply to the government’s affidavit on the stay application by January 19, with parties to file written submissions by January 26, before a February 4 hearing.
Last October, the High Court granted leave for the judicial review application against the drug price display mandate.
