SMALL private clinics will struggle to keep up when the RM1,500 minimum wage is enforced next month, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said.

Its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said general practitioners’ clinics are essentially low-income businesses with no avenue to increase their charges to compensate for the increase in operating expenditure caused by the imposition of minimum wages.

“GP clinics, especially standalone clinics, are low-income businesses with their consultation fees being capped under the Private Healthcare and Facilities Act and with their overall charges being controlled by third-party administrators.

“Private clinics are not like other sectors where price increases can be passed on to the consumers. The healthcare practice is heavily regulated,” said Dr Koh in a statement today.

On March 19, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that Malaysia will increase the minimum wage from RM1,200 to RM1,500 minimum starting May 1 nationwide.

He said small and micro businesses are allowed to delay raising wages as they could lack the means to pay.

Koh stated that while the new minimum wage allowed for a higher quality of living, the provision of quality primary healthcare at affordable rates to the public is also essential to the maintenance of people’s health.

He explained that five staff members at a clinic may seem to be a lot, but in reality, that is the minimum number of staff needed by many clinics to continue operating at extended hours.

“Hiring five staff members is to maintain the overhead expenditure and to derive a reasonable income for the practitioner.

“Most clinic assistants being employed are untrained workers and not trained nurses.

We hope that an engagement will be done with the relevant healthcare stakeholders on the implication of the minimum wages act on GP clinics,” stressed Koh.

Prior to MMA’s statement, industries that rely heavily on foreign labourers have also condemned Putrajaya’s move to impose the new minimum wage.

They said the increase in minimum wage will only benefit foreign workers as most locals already earn more than the minimum wage of RM1,500.

Malaysian Furniture Council president Khoo Yeow Chong had asked that the new minimum wage be postponed until next year to avoid a series of adverse economic reactions.

Khoo said many do not agree with the new minimum wage as the furniture industry has had to deal with rising cost of transport and shortages of containers and manpower, which has led to many orders not being fulfilled. – April 14, 2022.