Charge according to ability to pay

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 13, 2016 A picture taken on March 14, 2016 shows tablets and capsules in Paris displayed on a desktop for an illustration in Paris.The Strategic Council of Health Industries (CSIS) will meet on July 10, 2018 at the Matignon. / AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFE

I REFER to the press statement by Health Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Chen Chaw Min on Friday (see statement at tinyurl.com/star-costs) touching on the latest treatment charges imposed on Malaysian cancer patients based on the Fees (Medical) (Amendment) Order 2017 that was issued by the ministry’s finance division in February 2017.

In his Aug 24 statement, Dr Chen said that the increased charges practised currently by all government hospitals are lower than the charges for similar treatments in private hospitals, and that the revenue collected last year from patients seeking treatment in government hospitals was only 2.64% of the total cost borne by the government. This was in reply to The Star’s Aug 13 report (online at tinyurl.com/star-medicine) on patients referred from private hospitals to public hospitals complaining that they were paying more for cancer treatments and drugs in public hospitals than in private ones.