PUTRAJAYA, March 3 — The Health Ministry has taken aggressive measures to address the issue of medical inflation, which has led to rising health insurance premiums.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad expects the issue to be resolved soon.
“(It is a) work in progress. We will address this issue not just through the DRG (Diagnosis-Related Group) approach, as it is not a ‘silver bullet’ to solving medical cost inflation.
“More importantly, we will take a multi-pronged approach,” he said during a press conference after the Presint 3 Ramadan bazaar walkabout programme and the launch of a WhatsApp hotline for complaints about the cleanliness of food premises today.
The DRG implementation is expected to enhance transparency in patient treatment charges that will, in turn, help control rising medical costs, which is one of the key factors driving up health insurance premiums.
“Hopefully, we can implement DRG alongside another initiative... which is the display of medicine prices.
“Hospitals have already accepted this. As for private general practitioner (GP) clinics, they are requesting a moratorium, possibly for another month or two,” Dr Dzulkefly said.
He added that the display of medicine prices could help lower health insurance premiums by enabling insurance companies to assess the actual cost of treatment more accurately.
However, the move has been opposed by the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia, which views the implementation of medicine price displays at GP clinics as irrelevant and potentially misleading for patients.
— Bernama
