Healthcare facilities to display medicine prices under new transparency mechanism

The Star

The government is finalising a new policy to make it compulsory for healthcare facilities and community pharmacies to display medicine prices, says the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3cdkvnrm  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00The immediate approach that we can take,

00:04which we see is a quick win,

00:07which does not involve a large financial implication,

00:10is how it was discussed in the Nakol meeting on 3 October 2023.

00:19At that time, it was decided that the Ministry of Health,

00:23together with the KPDN,

00:25must implement the so-called MKSU,

00:34Mekanisme Ketelusan Harga Ubat.

00:36It was decided at that time

00:37so that the procedure was taken by the KKM and the KPDN.

00:41What is the Mekanisme Ketelusan Harga Ubat?

00:44It is for us to oblige any industry,

00:49health facilities,

00:51to disclose the price of medicines on their premises.

00:56So that the people can get information.

01:01The people can make choices

01:05because the right to get information

01:08and the right to choose

01:11are two of the eight universal rights of users.

01:17And users are also the universal rights of the people.

01:20So, as well as the Nakol decision,

01:24the KPDN and the KKM have planned to make a series of engagements,

01:29to see what procedures we can use,

01:33to recognize the power of the government,

01:36and then we have, alhamdulillah,

01:39brought a Memorandum of Understanding of the Ministerial Committee together.

01:43The KPDN and the KKM,

01:45on 8 January 2025,

01:49I have discussed with the Minister of Health,

01:52and alhamdulillah,

01:55the Ministerial Committee has passed the Memorandum of Understanding,

01:59where one order will be issued

02:04under the Act of Controlling Prices and Anti-Unification,

02:08under the AQAP,

02:09an order to oblige these health facilities

02:16to disclose the price of medicines on their premises.

02:21So, we are waiting,

02:24even though the AQAP is under the control of the KPDN,

02:30but we are waiting from the Ministry of Health

02:36so that the draft of the order can be finalized

02:41and the date of the draft of the order can be set.

02:49With regards to the drug trafficking mechanism,

02:53in January 1st,

02:57but recently there has been a negative feedback

03:01regarding the view of the opposition

03:04against the mechanism.

03:06How can we be sure that it can be enforced on 1st May?

03:10Okay, as I mentioned earlier,

03:12even though the key to power

03:15and the order will be issued under the AQAP,

03:20under the laws of the KPDN,

03:24but it also depends on the Ministry of Health.

03:33Alhamdulillah,

03:34the announcement made by the Minister of Health recently,

03:38I think after,

03:41even though it is a series of engagements,

03:44that has been done before the decision was made,

03:48but there is a certain opposition.

03:52And after he met with the opposition,

03:56he still gave a commitment that

04:00this order will be enforced on 1st May.

04:05And I hope as a minister who is responsible for drugs,

04:09as a ministry that has a sense of the cost of living,

04:13it is our responsibility to look at the cost of people's lives,

04:17I really hope that

04:20we can enforce the order under the AQAP

04:25in relation to the responsibility

04:28to issue the drug price on 1st May.

04:31And there are certain parties who say

04:34why it is relevant to be under the AQAP,

04:38I have explained earlier.

04:40And I want to remind you

04:42that what we will do through this order

04:48is just to raise the price

04:53so that people have access to information on drug prices

04:59and then make a choice

05:02to get information and to choose.

05:06We are not going through this order

05:09to control drug prices.

05:12No.

05:13This order is to enforce drug prices,

05:18not to control drug prices.

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