Medical charges for foreigners at government clinics will almost double next year when they will have to pay the full amount.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said foreign workers are currently charged RM23 for treatment.

“The new charge will be about RM40 if they are prescribed medicine for five days,” he said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

He also denied that the government had slashed healthcare subsidies for foreign workers, and stressed that foreigners will only be charged full medical fees.

“We didn’t cut anything, (we) just said (that) we are going to charge them full fees, which is the normal thing to do.

“We were actually subsidising them before. Now we are going to charge them costs - we are not going to make a profit,” he said.

Exorbitant bills

Asked what would happen if foreign workers were unable to pay exorbitant hospital bills, Subramaniam insisted it would then be the responsibility of their employers to do so.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in his Budget 2016 speech last Friday announced that the government will impose full medical charges on non-citizens come Jan 1, 2016.

Some, however, have expressed concern on the announcement.

Co-founder and director of the Health Equity Initiatives, Sharuna Verghis, said low-income foreign workers would resort to avoiding treatment for illnesses and adopt self-medication instead, which would exacerbate their medical condition.

As a result, health risks that confront Malaysians will increase, especially in the case of infectious diseases.