The health ministry says it will continue to advocate mandatory drug price displays at private healthcare facilities despite the challenge brought by medical groups to a court ruling on the matter.
“But we respect the legal process,” heath minister Dzulkefly Ahmad told reporters after launching the National Health Technology Assessment Conference 2025 here.
Health news portal CodeBlue reported yesterday that a general practitioner and seven health groups including the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) had applied for leave for judicial review regarding the ruling, which came into effect on May 1.
The application, filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday, named the domestic trade and cost of living minister, health minister, and government as respondents.
The applicants want the rule to be nullified and its enforcement stayed by the court pending the disposal of their judicial review application.
They claim that the rule, under Section 10 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act, was gazetted in excess of the authority of the domestic trade and cost of living minister.
They also contend that Section 10 of the Act cannot apply to drugs administered by health practitioners, which is provided for by Section 19 of the Poisons Act 1952.
MMA and other medical groups had opposed the policy from the start, saying it should fall under the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 and be delayed pending a review of general practitioners’ consultation fees.
On calls for the ministry to enforce a ban on vapes and electronic cigarettes this year, Dzulkefly said they were working towards it.
He said they were looking at the ban from a health perspective, taking into consideration the implications of such a law.
“We don’t know when we will enforce a total ban, but we don’t want to rush it,” he said.
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok recently called on the health ministry to table amendments to the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2023 in the upcoming parliamentary meeting, to enforce a ban on vapes and electronic cigarettes this year.
Citing growing public health concerns, Kok urged the government to follow the example of countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Brazil and Argentina, which have implemented outright bans on vape and e-cigarette products.
