KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s implementation of a ceiling drug price would affect the private healthcare sector, said the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM).
Its president, Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh, said the private medical sector would need to find an avenue for its direct and indirect costs. This varied across private hospitals depending on their locations, level of service and specialities. “We fully support the push for greater transparency and efforts to rein in medical inflation. However, this has to be thought through carefully to avoid unintended policy outcomes that would hurt Malaysia.”
Dr Kuljit said if the implementation of ceiling price for medicine and drugs did not take into consideration the entire healthcare financing structure, and without the involvement and cooperation of the players, it would ultimately cause the Malaysian private healthcare sector to collapse.
He said the medication administration involved other costs, such as medication review, drug counselling, compliance monitoring and titration of dosage as a patient’s condition changes.
He said APHM had met the Pharmaceutical Services Division to discuss the matter on Feb 28.
Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the government would work with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to carry out a proposal to put in place a ceiling price on medicine.
Dr Dzulkefly said the ceiling price would refer to the average of three lowest prices, which would then be imposed at the wholesale stage and retail level at clinics, pharmacies and hospitals.
Malaysia Pharmaceutical Society president Amrahi Buang said the pharmaceutical industry would benefit from a floor price.
“For the pharmaceutical industry, at the retail level, having a floor price would provide an even playing field as we have three categories—independent, small chain and big chain pharmacies.
If there were price cutting or price wars between pharmacies, then it would disrupt pharmacists from their real professional work,” he said.