Media statement by Dr. Hiew King Cheu in Kota Kinabalu on Saturday, 2^nd July 2011:

Expensive pharmacy medicines

There are many complaints received by my office concerning the high prices of the various medicines in the market. The people said most people cannot afford to buy the expensive medicine just to maintain and prolong their life.

I brought the matter to Parliament recently and he asked the Minister of Health on why the prices of the medicines are going up at such a fast rate, and what are the measures taken by the Ministry of Health to control the price increase of the medicines.

The reply from the ministry said that the prices of the medicines are controlled by the pharmacy company, and it is also affected by the foreign exchange rate and other factors in producing the medicine in Malaysia. The other reason contributing to the price increase is due to the innovative nature and the cost of the imported raw materials to supply the local pharmaceutical industries.

Anyway, the Ministry of Health definitely will pay attention and watch on the prices of the medicine to safe guard the interest of the consumers. The monitoring on the prices both in the public and private sectors had been on going since 2006. The data collected is used for the preparation of policies based on the general income against the price of the medicine supply under the National Health Transformation Action Plan. The policies that had been derived at will help to control the prices of the medicine to ensure an affordable and a correct price for the users.

At the moment, the Health ministry also prepared a list on the Recommended Retail Price for the medicines under the National Essential Drugs List on both the private and public sectors. More information can be obtained from the website www.pharmacy.gov.my to check on the best buy of the required medicines from the various pharmacy companies.

The people have the choice of selecting the medicine with the same quality which is much cheaper and affordable from the pharmacy shops, and the prices must be competitive.

Malaysia should be a welfare country by now and why should we continue to buy expensive medicines in order to continue to live. Many people had complained that they cannot afford those expensive medicines especially the government hospitals are not providing them on their list. The patients have to pay a high price to buy from private pharmacy shops. What happens if the patient cannot afford, is he going to live and survive without the medicine? The government should provide the full list of medicines and make these available in all hospitals and clinics. To save lives is the duty of the Health Ministry.

We cannot accept and tolerate that the government can no longer supply the sick patients with the expensive medicine, and asking the poor patients to go to buy their own medicines.

* Dr Hiew King Cheu, MP for Kota Kinabalu