PUTRAJAYA, May 7 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today directed the Ministry of Health to examine the key concerns raised by private healthcare workers about the new ruling on mandatory drug price display.

Private medical workers have opposed the ruling.

Yesterday hundreds of them, including medical doctors, held a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office here yesterday, where they handed a memorandum detailing out why they oppose the new policy.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was discussed in today’s Cabinet meeting.

“The PM had asked the minister of health to study the issues (raised in the memorandum), among them why the use of Act 723…under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living,” he said at the weekly post-Cabinet press conference here.

“Many doctors had asked why is this Act instead of Act 586 being used so the PM wants the MoH to explain this as soon as possible.”

The Malaysian Medical Association has led the protest against the ruling.

In a statement issued on Monday, it said that while doctors support the principle of price transparency, they oppose the use of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) for enforcing medicine price displays.

The group instead is calling for the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998 (Act 586) to be used.

Fahmi said Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad and his team are now preparing a Cabinet paper on the matter, expected to be ready in one or two days.

A key issue in the paper will be the policy on consultation fees at private clinics, the minister said.

“Issues raised by the MMA were heeded by the Cabinet and MoH said it is taking all the necessary steps for the price display policy to be rolled out smoothly,” Fahmi said.