Group urges doctors to impose RM20 compliance charge on patients

A medical doctors’ group has advised general practitioners (GP) to institute a regulatory compliance charge (RCC) in their billing, starting at RM20, until the government resolves their fee structure issues.

The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Association, Malaysia (FPMPAM) said this new fee should be reviewed periodically and collected directly from patients.

“For panel patients, members should bill them accordingly.

“With new regulations imposed, the RCC charge will be adjusted accordingly,” said its president Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson in a statement today.

Elaborating, Shanmuganathan pinned the blame on the government’s “endless unproductive and unnecessary regulations”.

This charge, he added, would help recover some expenses resulting from the many mandatory regulations GPs and specialists are required to comply with, which is imposed not taking into account the multiple cost factors involved in it.

“Such unwarranted regulations not only increase cost and decrease accessibility but will endanger the quality of care to the patients,” Shanmuganathan stated, adding that the consultation cost of seeing a GP has remained static for the past 20 years.

He also cited a report by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation, which indicated that the practice of medicine in Malaysia is over-regulated.

Not improving the situation

Taking the Health Ministry to task, Shanmuganathan said the former had failed to update the GP fee schedule while taking the erroneous step of deregulating GP fees without a replacement - leaving a regulatory vacuum which is now being exploited by middlepersons.

“In the past, the private GPs, despite accounting for only 40 percent of the outpatient healthcare providers, were able to see up to 60 percent of the outpatient load.

“However, instead of improving on this performance, all these quick-fix measures (by the government) have resulted in the opposite outcome.

“GP patient loads have dropped, and many clinics are closing due to the cost of over-regulation, micromanagement and the boom of middle persons in healthcare,” Shanmuganathan said.

The result, he added, is patients are now crowding up the public healthcare facilities - worsening the situation.

“Maintaining the social contract between the doctor and his patient is paramount and is reflected by the close patient-doctor interaction and caring-compassionate care,” Shanmuganathan stressed.

Display of medicine prices

Shanmuganathan lauded the government’s move to compel private healthcare facilities to display medicine prices for transparency.

“We fully support the government’s effort to address the issue of the rising cost of living and the escalating cost of healthcare in private hospitals.

“It has already been shown that this escalation is the result of private hospital charges and not the fees paid to the specialist doctors.

“The same applies to GP practice. The GP consultation and medications are one of the lowest in the region.

“This basic medical service is available, affordable and accessible to all who do not wish to use the public facilities.”

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad announced on Nov 12 in Dewan Rakyat that the government would mandate the display of medication prices in private healthcare facilities to enhance price transparency, stating it would take effect next year.

“In this way, medication charges in insurance claims can be verified so that the price of medication does not exceed the displayed price and medication charges are not arbitrarily increased,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill (Budget) 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat.

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