‘Regulation of private healthcare prices needed’

KUALA LUMPUR: Regulate pricing in private healthcare to lower the cost of living, urged Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) Datuk Dr Paul Selvaraj.

Many Malaysians have no insurance and they pay out of their own pocket for healthcare, he added.

“This is made difficult especially since private healthcare is expensive. We need to regulate the price of core treatments to make them affordable.

“Healthcare is a right and profit should not be the main consideration,” he said.

Paul said that regulating the pricing of private healthcare was one of the five proposals on lowering the cost of living suggested by Fomca during a meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons yesterday.

He said core treatments should be regulated but if patients want hotel facilities, they can pay for it.

Since many do not have insurance, Paul said that the Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad’s announcement on the increase in healthcare expenditure from 4.4% to 6% or 7% for public healthcare will enable more people to use it.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS), while commending the Government for fulfilling its commitment to zero-rated tax, has proposed that it waive the sales and services tax (SST) for all medicine.