DATE OF RELEASE: 8^th AUGUST 2025

Dear Editor,

PRESS RELEASE: TRANSPARENCY IN PRIVATE HEALTHCARE - A PRESCRIPTION LONG OVERDUE

The government’s move to mandate prescription issuance and transparent, itemised billing in private healthcare facilities deserves not just recognition but wholehearted support. Malaysia has long operated a dual-tier healthcare system: the public sector, heavily subsidised and accessible, coexists with a private, market-driven sector where out-of-pocket payments continue to dominate. In fact, nearly half of all healthcare spending comes directly from patients’ pockets—about 35 percent is out-of-pocket—underscoring how vulnerable consumers are in this landscape.

On a macroeconomic scale, Malaysia’s medical cost inflation has surged to 12.6 percent in 2023—double the global average of 5.6 percent—significantly driven by unchecked private-sector charges  . Bank Negara has emphasized that enhanced pricing transparency, including public drug and procedure prices and itemised billing, is pivotal in curbing this escalation and shielding consumers.

Micro-level data tell an even more alarming story. A trusted study revealed that medicines for everyday conditions can cost patients the equivalent of several days’ wages. For example, private sector prices for certain antihypertensive could cost 2.3 days of pay for innovator brands, while generics still cost half a day to a full day’s wage—a serious burden for low-income earners  . In some clinics, generic drug markups exceeded 100 percent, meaning the cost of essential treatment was doubled by unseen profit margins.

Against this backdrop, requiring private clinics and pharmacies to issue a prescription alongside a detailed bill—listing consultation fees, drug names and prices, procedures, and materials—empowers patients with the knowledge to compare prices or seek more affordable outlets. It dismantles the information asymmetry that has long allowed profiteering under the guise of medical convenience. Studies show that if drug price caps were introduced, patients could realize savings of 40–50 percent on medicine costs—again demonstrating how much hidden room there is for fairer pricing.

Nothing about this reform undermines clinical practice. It simply ensures that healthcare remains patient-focused and ethically delivered. Internationally, this is not revolutionary—nations such as Australia publish complete drug pricing details in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, from markups to patient charges; Canada, France, and Germany demand transparency in drug submissions, pricing rationale and therapeutic benefit. Patients in these systems can truly make informed choices—Malaysia ought to do no less.

Moreover, as private medical expenditure grows—through insurance costs and direct payments—the reinforcement of transparency is not only fair but fiscally prudent. Malaysian employer-insured patients between 2016 and 2019 saw consultation fees jump by 113.9 percent, while medicine costs and volumes dropped—suggesting practitioners were shifting profit strategies in opaque ways. Mandatory itemised billing counters such distortions and encourages ethical behaviour.

Consumers—especially the elderly, the chronically ill, and lower-income groups—have long been voiceless and disadvantaged in the face of opaque pricing. The government’s reform restores their agency, reduces unjust markups, and brings our healthcare system up to international standards. It is an act of courage on the part of Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) to protect the public interest against entrenched profiteering.

In short, this mandate safeguards consumers’ rights, acknowledges healthcare as a public trust rather than a retail transaction, and aligns Malaysia with global values of transparency, fairness, and accountability. The government must remain steadfast in defending this reform—our healthcare system, and society’s trust, depends on it.

DR. SARAVANAN THAMBIRAJAH

Chief Executive Officer