In a climate of rising costs across the board, it is heartening to hear the health minister proclaiming that the cost of consulting with an Ministry of Health (MOH) doctor is to remain the same, i.e. RM1 for medical officers, and RM5 for a specialist (The Star, June 11, 2008) . And this includes medications to whit!

The MOH spends a disproportionate amount of money providing heavily subsidised health care services (RM12.9 billion) -from primary to tertiary levels- to our Malaysian citizens, and as many complain to a large number of illegal immigrant workers and their families.