Drop GST on medicines, say pharmacists

Mkini

The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) is appealing to the government for all medicines to be zero-rated under the goods and services tax (GST).

MPS president Nancy Ho said in a statement today the government should not tax somebody for “being sick or for needing to take medications”.

As such, MPS is collecting signatures for a petition to appeal for all medicines to be zero-rated under the GST.

The petition is availablehere.

Ho pointed out how certain illnesses required patients to fork out tens of thousands of ringgit every month for treatment and medications.

“If they are made to pay GST at a standard rate, they will need to pay an extra RM600 in tax for every RM10,000 they need to pay for their medications.

“It is already sad for a person to fall seriously ill, so much so that it cripples his or her ability to generate income. And now they will be taxed an additional six percent for having to take medicines,” she said.

As for the petition, the collection of names will go on till Dec 31.

Once completed, MPS will compile all these names and send an appeal to the associated government agencies for further action.

“This will show the authorities that this appeal has the support of the public and should be considered seriously,” she said.

Further queries can be emailed to medicine.gst.mps@gmail.com.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, when presenting Budget 2015 to Parliament, announced that 2,900 essential medicines would be exempted from the GST.

However, he did not specify the categories.