Employers across Malaysia are concerned about the possibility of having to bear higher medical fees for their workers. 

The country’s Health Ministry has announced that private clinics and hospitals would be getting the freedom to fix their own consultation fees. Implementing such a fee structure that is open to market forces would pose a challenge to those employers who cover the medical costs for their employees, according to Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, Executive Director of Malaysian Employers Federation. On an average, employers bear about RM 4,000 per worker, in outpatient treatment, per year. 

When there are about eight million employees in the country’s private sector, the cost builds up for the employers. 

On the other hand, this move by the government comes as a good news for the doctors who have been vying for a change in the fees’ structure that have not been revised since 1992 in General Practices across the nation. 

The government has not yet set the start date for the implementation of the renewed fee structure.