Private Healthcare Facilities and
Services (Amendment) Order 2013
Background
The Malaysian
Medical Association (MMA) and other medical groups insisted that medical
services fees should go up by 30%, to cope with rising living costs. Charges,
they claim, have stayed the same for almost three decades. The Minister of
Health promised to look into their problems.
Section 106(2) of
the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, grants the Health
Minister the power to amend prices in the 13th Schedule by way of an
order published in the gazette, after consulting the ministry’s
director-general.
New Regulations
It was reported by
Malaysiakini on 4 March, 2014 that the amendment of 13th schedule of the Private
Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 was published in the federal
gazette on Dec 16, 2013, providing for across-the-board increases in fees for
medical consultation and procedures (refer to appendix 1) up to 257%. Medical
procedures also saw a price hike between 14% and 18%.
Fees by private health
providers are regulated by the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act
1998. Those who break the law can be fined up maximum of RM30,000 and face a
three-month jail term. They can be fined up to RM2,000 per day for every day
the offence continues after conviction.
MMA’s response
The cost of running
medical practices varies across the country, including employing general
practice staff and operating expenses such as computers, rent, electricity,
general insurance and professional insurance among others.
MMA has always
encouraged medical practitioners to determine their fees based on their own
practice costs and the ability of patients to pay.
|
Who?
|
What
do they do?
|
Fees
Before Dec 2013
|
Fees
After Dec 2013
|
%
increase
|
|
General Practitioners (GPs) at clinics with pharmaceutical
services
|
Consultation, either with examination and/or treatment
plan
|
RM10
to RM35
|
RM30
to RM125
|
200% to 257%
|
|
GPs at clinics without pharmaceutical services
|
Consultation, either with examination and/or treatment
plan
|
RM30
to RM125
|
RM35
to RM145
|
16% to 17%
|
|
Specialist (First visit)
|
Consultation, either with examination and/or treatment
plan
|
RM60
to RM 180
|
RM80
to RM235
|
31% to 33%
|
|
Specialist (Follow-up)
|
Consultation, either with examination and/or treatment
plan
|
RM35
to RM90
|
RM40
to RM105
|
14% to 17%
|
|
Dentists
|
Consultation either with examination and/or treatment plan
|
RM25
to RM250
|
RM30
to RM285
|
14% to 20%
|
|
Post-extraction bleeding
|
RM50
to RM300
|
RM55
to RM345
|
10% to 15%
|
|
|
Removal of plaque and/or extrinsic stains
|
RM60
to RM250
|
RM70
to RM285
|
14% to 17%
|
