As a discerning consumer, I am all for comparing prices when I shop for stuff. QED – Quite Easily Done – when I am using just my fingers to do online shopping. But it gets a bit tedious when I go shopping physically at the mall.

Perhaps age is catching up on me, so these days I no longer fancy spending two hours walking in and out of stores just to compare the prices of stuff I want or need to buy. In fact I no longer fancy shopping, full stop.

Being from the “older” Baby Boomer generation, I have never been one to go for luxury imported or branded stuff, so I just buy things from local shops. Even for food, I prefer good old kopitiams to fine dining restaurants.

Sure the ambience, presentation and quality differs according to the price. But what the heck, all food goes down into the stomach and out anyway. And truth be told, there are still some pretty “good eats” kopitiams around.

In those “good old days”, no one bothered about menus or price lists. You just go up to the stall, ask (if you don’t already know) and just order what you want. After you eat, you pay up.

Nowadays, the “menus” are just pieces of paper stuck on the stalls with the names of the dishes and prices or nicer laminated photos of the food items available. I guess it does make things easier for customers to pick and choose.

Well, it looks like starting May 1, we consumers can now go shopping for something new – medication. As reported, apparently all private health care facilities will have to display price lists of medicines in their places of practice, despite the many objections and feedback from the medical fraternity.

I always thought it was the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) “baby”, but I was wrong; apparently drug price display now comes under the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN).

Although I am all for giving us consumers options to purchase, I can’t help wondering how this is going to work out in a typical scenario of an ordinary man or woman like me who goes to an ordinary general practitioner (GP) for ordinary illnesses like cough, fever, sore throat and the like.

Actually, I am very blessed because I have not stepped into a clinic for years. Thanks also to a twice monthly workout in a public pool, plus a daily 45-minute exercise regime of stretching and cycling round the neighbourhood, I can say I am a pretty healthy 65-year-old senior.

I don’t presume to speak for others of course. But honestly, I am not interested in shopping for what my GP, as a learned doctor, would prescribe to treat my few and far between illnesses. If I have to go and see a doctor, I am already suffering discomfort. It’s bad enough that I have to drag myself to the clinic (I only go when I can’t stand the pain) and hang around if there are other sick people waiting as well.

Personally, I would not be bothered to scrutinise lists of drugs and their prices. I wouldn’t even know what drug is what. I just want to get it done and over with and go straight home with whatever the clinic assistant packs after telling me how much to pay for everything – one shot.

I may be wrong or just plain lazy, but it makes no sense to me to go hunting for a pharmacy just so I can save a few bucks on medication. I used to have to drive some 15 minutes from my place to see my family GP. Finding a parking spot there was (and I am sure still is) a horrendous waste of time.

Honestly, I don’t even know where the nearest pharmacy is in that area. This is why I have since “shifted” to another GP clinic within walking distance in my neighborhood, where there are (at last count) six pharmacies in the vicinity.

But I can safely say that I would be in no mood – physically and/or emotionally – to pop in and out of each pharmacy just to get the cheapest painkiller, antibiotic, lozenges, cough syrup or whatever prescription my GP gives me.

Of course I know the clinic will mark up the price. Excuse me, which product bought by consumers is not marked up? It’s to be expected. How else are GPs going to run their clinics if they don’t charge extra for medication, since that’s probably the only item for which they can charge extra?

Apparently, for over three decades, GP consultation fees have been capped at a maximum RM35. Goodness, the plumber who came to fix my stuck kitchen sink charged me an RM80 service fee (excluding parts) for a 10-minute job. Likewise, it cost me RM80 per fan when I called an electrician to come fix two spoilt ones in my house, which earned him RM160 in about half an hour.

I am sure my plumber or electrician didn’t have to spend as many years, time, or money as my GP did in getting a degree from some university somewhere. In fact, I very much doubt they have any certificates to show at all. Yet, plumbers and electricians can earn more than double doing just one job in one house, compared to the “poor” doctor in the clinic.

Plumbers and electricians don’t need to pay staff, rent a shop-lot, purchase supplies, or keep inventory. No one checks on them. They run much less risk of being sued for negligence and work much fewer hours, I am sure.

Certainly, as a former lawyer, I am all for consumer rights and all that stuff. But surely we can show some heart for our health care professionals, those we address and respect as Doctors – particularly where GPs typically don’t have the luxury to just concentrate on seeing patients, but need to run their clinic as well.

Why make their lives more difficult with all sorts of administrative burdens? Price lists of medicines may be nice to have, but the way I see it, not many patients are going to bother with buying cheaper medication on their own. It’s just too inconvenient and too much of a hassle.

Heck, we Malaysians are so sold onto “convenience” that we’d just rather double-park right in front of whichever place we are headed for (be it a clinic, bank, shop etc.) than to drive around or wait for a proper parking lot.

Why would I waste my time and energy to go looking around for the cheapest pharmacy to buy some medicine that I can get straight away at the clinic? I will just pay more; maybe that bit more can buy my GP a decent meal at a fine dining restaurant now and then. He certainly deserves it.

Christine SK Lai is a Malaysian citizen who lives in Kuala Lumpur.

  • This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.