General practitioners (GPs) form the backbone of Malaysia’s health care system, yet decades of neglect, unfair regulations, and unchecked exploitation are driving clinics to the brink of collapse.
Unless urgent reforms are made, primary care will crumble, overwhelming public hospitals and leaving patients to pay the ultimate price in suffering, delays, and poorer health outcomes.
1. End TPA and MCO Exploitation: No more cheap fees, delayed payments, and endless administrative red tape. GPs deserve fair contracts and timely payments, not financial strangulation.
2. Break the Fee Freeze: Three decades of frozen consultation fees while costs escalate is unacceptable. The Ministry of Health (MOH) must stop dragging its feet. GP fees must be adjusted to reflect inflation or clinics will shut down.
3. Regulate Digital Health Platforms: Recent telemedicine guidelines prioritise business over patient safety. Online care must be held to the same medical and legal standards as in-person consultations.
4. Demand a Seat at the Policy Table: Policies made without consulting GP associations are doomed to fail. GPs must have a direct voice in shaping health care regulations.
5. Restore Respect for GPs: The Ministry of Health (MOH) must end the culture of treating GPs as “second-class doctors”. Primary care is the foundation of health care, without GPs, the entire system collapses.
6. Stop Non-Medical Entities Playing Doctor: Pharmacies, salons, and wellness centres offering quasi-medical services endanger patients. The government must enforce scope of practice laws.
7. Cut the Red Tape: Impractical regulations, endless forms, and bureaucratic hurdles waste GPs’ time and inflate operating costs. Compliance should support care, not cripple it.
8. Regulate TPAs, MCOs, and Insurers: Patients’ medical care should never be dictated by insurers and corporate middlemen. Only doctors should decide treatment plans.
9. Make GP Work Attractive Again: Young doctors avoid general practice because it is underpaid, undervalued, and over-regulated. If this trend continues, Malaysia will face a dangerous shortage of frontline doctors.
10. End Unfair Taxation and SST Burden: The imposition of new taxes and SST (Sales and Service Tax) on essential medical services further suppresses GP practices already struggling with high overheads. Health care should not be treated as a taxable commodity.
If these 10 battles are not addressed immediately, Malaysia risks the collapse of primary care. Public hospitals will be overwhelmed, and patients will pay the price through delays, suffering, and deteriorating health outcomes.
Dr James Jeremiah is the immediate past president and founding president of the Association of Private Practitioners Sabah (APPS).
This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.