In my office this morning, I met members of the press to raise a very important issue concerning the people of Malaysia. Today, all of us pay up to 148% higher for medicines here, compared to those who live in Australia, a thoroughly developed nation, according to a study carried out in 2012 by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). When the Goods & Services Tax takes effect though, well be doomed. Now this might strike some as being outrageous, but the main reason for this is Malaysia has adopted a free market economy approach to medicine, while the government of Australia and France have price caps through a control mechanism which monitors effectively through regulations. Germany and Japan too have adopted a different measure with similar results, where comprehensive social schemes are in place so that their citizens can have access to essential life-saving medicines at an affordable rate. There is no reason why Malaysia cannot take on a similar system, but as of now, the Ministry of Health has said that it will be the Customs Department which will determine which medicines will be exempted from GST and which will be taxed. At this moment, only 4,200 brands will be zero-rated, while other medicines will all make you and I pay terribly high costs. This cannot happen, and I have today urged the Ministry of Health to take this issue seriously, and exempt all medicines from GST, as the Right to Health is a fundamental Human Right, and the government should not exempt lobsters from GST and instead look at medicines.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 04:33:28 +0000
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