Malaysia ranks 12th in World Bank’s Ease of doing Business

The "World Bank Doing Business 2020 Report" has ranked Malaysia in 12th position among 190 economies worldwide, an improvement from the 15th spot the previous year, says the International Trade and Industry Ministry.

Minister Datuk Darell Leiking said the improved ranking was due to the public and private sector members’ collaboration and commitment within the technical working groups under the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) to improve the ease-of-doing-business environment.

“Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC)" as the Secretariat of Pemudah works closely with the respective technical working groups to initiate and monitor the implementation of the various improvement initiatives,” he said.

Darell said Pemudah consistently launches improvement initiatives that impact positively on the ease of doing business by promoting regulatory efficiency, productivity and good governance.

He said Malaysia’s improved performance in the Doing Business 2020 Report attests that the on-going reform initiatives are on the right track to further enhance competitiveness, productivity and governance in the ease of doing business as well as to promote investments, which will accelerate national economic development and prosperity.

The Doing Business Report surveys regulations governing business activities in the economies which are then ranked according to their ease of doing business scores based on quantitative indicators of the regulations.

The report measures the processes for business incorporation, getting a building permit, obtaining an electricity connection, transferring property, accessing credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, engaging in international trade, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

/MM 24-10-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

The Doing Business Report surveys regulations governing business activities in the economies which are then ranked according to their ease of doing business scores based on quantitative indicators of the regulations.

Global Medical technology & Pharmaceutical MNCs turning to Malaysia

GLOBAL medical technology and pharmaceutical firms are turning to Malaysia as their investment destination, as they chart their mid-to-long term growth strategy across the region.

For biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the focus going forward will be on achieving growth through a science-led innovation strategy, its country president and managing director Dr Sanjeev Panchal said.

In March, it was reported that AstraZeneca will invest more than RM500mil in Malaysia over the next five years for a new headquarters and to roll out new robotic and cognitive technology.

With more than RM500mil in investment across 2019 to 2023 in strategic segments of its business operations, including medical, finance, clinical studies and commercial, the company will bring innovation by expanding its footprint in Malaysia.

“Beyond accelerating our innovation pipeline to patients in Malaysia, AstraZeneca is working with healthcare stakeholders to address gaps in disease management through ‘beyond the pill’ ecosystem a patient-centric approach.

“These includes strong portfolios of medical educations, diagnostics, research, diseases prevent activities and various programmes to increase affordability and access to innovative medicines, designed to achieve better healthcare outcomes for patients in Malaysia.”

Meanwhile, global medical technology company Edwards Lifesciences (Edwards) is focusing on creating more awareness of the services it provides, said Japan, Asia and Pacific strategy and business operations director Erik Ramp.

“In Malaysia, there’s growing awareness of structural heart disease. We work closely with Institut Jantung Negara and they are seeing more people coming in and asking about the devices and therapies that we provide. It’s a positive sign as it means that patients are becoming more aware of the treatments that are available.

“The diseases that we treat are not just exclusively to Malaysia. They can happen to anyone anywhere in the world. Worldwide, treatment rates for heart valve disease are traditionally very low, so it’s good that people are becoming more aware and speaking to their doctors.”

Back in April, it was reported that Edwards will be investing RM100mil in Malaysia over the next five years through its new regional business service centre, which is located at KL Eco City.

“We set up the office here in April 2019 and have grown our headcount from zero employees to 37. We’ve been able to establish a finance, IT and marketing departments to support our operations in Japan, Asia and Pacific, ” said Ramp.

“We expect a lot of our growth next year and the coming years, especially from our businesses in Japan and China. They are two of our biggest growth countries and as that grows, so will our support services here.”

He added that the RM100mil investment will comprise mostly payroll, training and development, travel budgets and capital expenditure.

AstraZeneca Asia Pacific global finance services head Madeleine Roach said the group conducted an in-depth study before deciding on a location to set its regional hub.

“We always do a thorough study of the sites that we pick and where we want to establish. Because of the investment requirements, it needs to become a hub where we can find really good talent.

“We invest a lot in upskilling and developing our people because we want to see our people advance in their careers, ” she said. AstraZeneca will also be rolling out an academy to boost its employee skills.

“The academy will focus on core skills from understanding our systems to our brands in the company, to looking into some technical areas like tax, investor relations and areas that they may not necessarily be exposed to.

“The academy will go live in October, ” she said.

Separately, Edwards’ Ramp said one of the challenges of setting up base in Malaysia is that not many people are aware of the services that the company offers.

“We are dedicated to very focused areas of medical technology. We treat structural heart disease, which is a subset of cardiovascular disease and when everyone thinks cardiovascular disease, they think heart attack. We also have technologies that help in the monitoring and treatment of those with critical illness. 

Tying up with InvestKL has helped Edwards to create that much needed awareness, said Ramp.

“InvestKL has helped us in terms of the talent market here, as well as helping us connect with other multinational companies (MNCs), ” he said.

For AstraZeneca, InvestKL has been invaluable in helping it explore new opportunities and possibilities, said Sanjeev.

“InvestKL has facilitated multiple engagements with government agencies, as well as other MNC’s, hence strengthening our company positioning as one of the preferred healthcare MNC-committed firm to support Greater Kuala Lumpur’s proposition as a regional business hub.”

“Apart from that, with this collaboration, InvestKL has assisted and supported the company to increase our visibility among the stakeholders and directing us to the preferred stakeholders to achieve our target as the biggest healthcare MNC in Malaysia, ” he said.

InvestKL acting chief executive officer Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli meanwhile is optimistic about the prospects of attracting more MNCs like AstraZeneca and Edwards into the country.

“Given the country’s ease in doing business, its transparency, efficiency and being investor-friendly, Malaysia is well positioned to become an innovation hub for MNCs looking to grow their business within Asean.”

/theSTAR 24-10-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

"Pharma Most Ethical Industry" claims MOPI

The pharmaceutical industry is the most ethical among various industries, while chemical and fertiliser industries have far worse practices, a group of Malaysian generic manufacturers said.

The Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries (MOPI), a 45-member association comprising mostly local generic drug makers, said the pharmaceutical industry had several codes of ethics, as well as other such codes within each company.

“I worked for 35 years, but in the pharma industry for 12 to 15 years, and I can tell you, among many other industries, the pharma industry is the most ethical industry,” MOPI president Billy Urudra told a seminar Wednesday on good governance for medicines that was jointly organised between the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS), the Malaysian Community Pharmacy Guild (MCPG), MOPI, the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA), and the Malaysian Association of Pharmaceutical Suppliers (MAPS).

He also pointed out that some government-linked companies (GLCs) in the pharmaceutical industry have already signed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) integrity pledge and instituted company policy against bribery and corruption.

According to Billy, PhAMA, which mostly represents multinational drug makers, established its code of ethics in 1978, while the ethics codes of MOPI and MAPS, which represents importers of generics, were drawn up in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

He also pointed out that MACC had found no evidence of corruption in the supply of medicines to MOH in its investigation on a whistleblower’s claim that three tender agents monopolised MOH’s total medicine tenders between 2013 and 2016, worth RM3.7 billion.

“It has put out this unnecessary and tarnished image of the industry,” Billy said.

The codes of ethics in the pharmaceutical industry, he said, cover various issues related to prescription drugs, such as promotional methods, patient confidentiality, and companies’ interactions with health care professionals, like what kind of accommodation and airfare can be provided to them.

Dr Ramli Zainal, senior director of MOH’s Pharmaceutical Services Programme, said enforcement officers and government staff in logistics and pharmacy who deal with the procurement of drugs in hospitals are rotated every three to five years.

“If you look at government procurement, we have a very tight procedure. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) procedure is there. In terms of procedure it’s there, but still the element of human intervention might be there,” Dr Ramli told the seminar.

He added that MOH’s pharmaceutical programme was tightly regulated, with clear standard operating procedure (SOP) and several committees dealing with product registration.

MACC senior assistant commissioner Zakiah Hassan said public procurement was a high-risk area for corruption, noting that there is a “very high” number of cases involving public procurement in the health sector.

“We’re in the process of introducing a new law to deal with ‘ali baba’. The sale of any tenders, procurement, or contracts is an offence,” she told the seminar.

“We’ve brought this up to the government to make it an offence for any bidders to enter tenders but who ‘ali babakan’ the tenders and procurement,” she added, referring to rent seekers.

The government, Zakiah said, will also tighten laws to require companies bidding for government contracts to declare their “beneficial ownership”.

A survey on code of conduct run last May among drug distributors, wholesalers, importers, local and foreign manufacturers, and community pharmacies in Malaysia revealed that majority of companies surveyed did not have their own code of conduct, except for mostly foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers. Out of 211 respondents, only 73, or 35 per cent, had an official company policy that governs company staff’s interactions with external stakeholders and clients.

“Upstream industry players, such as distributors, manufacturers and importers, reported a higher proportion of companies with internal code of conduct,” PhAMA executive director Ewe Kheng Huat told the seminar.

“Foreign-based companies have a higher proportion of companies with internal code of conduct compared to local-based organisations.”

The activities covered in respondents’ codes of conduct included promotional activities, continuous medical education, and fees for services, among others, while the types of interactions covered were with contractors or suppliers, consumers, health care professionals, medical institutions, and patient organisations.

In general, Ewe said, most complaints about ethics in the pharmaceutical industry were related to ensuring proper and fair promotional materials.

Dr Hasenah Ali, director of the pharmacy policy and strategic planning under MOH’s pharmaceutical services programme, said the good governance in medicines (GGM) programme, which is under the Malaysian National Medicines Policy (MNMP), was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 to ensure the provision of safe, quality, effective, and affordable medicines within a best practice environment.

Malaysia was among the first few countries to join the initiative.

Malaysia’s GGM programme aims to strengthen the health system by promoting good governance in the pharmaceutical sector, to prevent corruption by identifying areas of vulnerability, to increase transparency and accountability in all processes related to the pharmaceutical sector, and to promote individual and institutional integrity.

Areas that are vulnerable to corruption in the pharmaceutical sector include medicines registration, promotion, and selection; licensing; inspections; and procurement.

“We plan to engage with other ministries to collaborate further on GGM initiatives, like the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, MACC, Malaysian Institute of Integrity, and Transparency International-Malaysia,” Dr Hasenah told the seminar.

/CodeBlue 01-11-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

MoH extends Pharmaniaga's supply concession

Pharmaniaga Bhd says its wholly-owned Pharmaniaga Logistics Sdn Bhd has received a letter from the Ministry of Health (MOH), extending its services for the provision of medicines and medical supplies to MOH facilities.

The services were for an interim 25 months from December 1 2019 to December 31 2021, said Pharmaniaga in a statement today.

Pharmaniaga Logistics is also allowed to continue providing logistics and distribution services to MOH for five years ending December 31 2024.

In the statement, Pharmaniaga says that it remains focused in providing high standards of service and strong operational efficiency to ensure that all key performance indicators are met. In tandem,it is committed to upholding good corporate governance standards and transparent practices guided by its MS ISO 37001 Anti Bribery Management System.

Observatio: "Flip flop by the MoH?"

/NST 19-11-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Patient's choice for Medicines-Source of Supply

The Ministry of Health (MOH) plans to push legal amendments to enforce mandatory prescriptions by doctors upon their patients’ request.

“This policy will empower patients and empower them to make choices about the supply of medicines either directly from their treating physician or through a pharmacist based on a prescription,” Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said in a parliament reply yesterday.

This follows pharmacists demanding last August for doctors to issue prescriptions so that patients can get medicines from pharmacies, as well as for the ability to charge professional consultation fees.

Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Amrahi Buang also called for legislation to enforce pharmacists’ consultation fees.

He requested for a review of the current government policy that mandates prescriptions only upon patients’ request — as opposed to dispensing separation — citing 2018 statistics by the Medication Error Reporting System (MERS) under the Health Ministry that found about 72 per cent of medication errors occurred during the prescribing process, of which about 93 per cent was reported by pharmacists.

Note: Could this be the start towards legislating "Dispensing Separation" in Malaysia?

/CodeBlue 01-11-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Price Control may Impact Health Tourism Negatively

Medicine price regulations may affect Malaysia’s medical tourism, a group representing multinational pharmaceutical companies told the government.

“Medical health tourism is expected to reach RM1.8 billion by year-end, registering a 25 per cent growth. The growth is largely because patients from neighbouring countries seek treatment here, due to the relatively affordable and good private healthcare.”

“Our drugs are accessible. We have innovative medicines at affordable prices and I think the figure is a testament to that,” Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA) president Chin Keat Chyuan told The Malaysian Reserve.

Drug price controls would impact patients’ experience, minimise treatment options, impede access to innovative medicines and reduce Malaysia’s attractiveness as a health tourism destination, he added.

Chin further said the Health Ministry was only zooming in at single-source drugs, large multinational companies and research and development-based firms, with its proposed drug price ceilings.

“It could pull foreign investors away.”

“We do acknowledge that there is up to 900 per cent markup at multiple-source drugs, but this is largely multiple or generic drugs,” Chin pointed out.

“Free market itself will regulate prices and there will be more options for the people.”

According to the Medicine Prices Monitoring 2017 report, the maximum price markup for generics sold in private hospitals reached a whopping 900 per cent, compared to a maximum 117 per cent price markup on originator drugs sold in the same facility. Across all private retail premises, the median price markups on medicines were 108 per cent for generics and 28 per cent for innovative drugs respectively.

The Health Ministry plans to use external reference pricing (ERP) to benchmark drug prices in Malaysia against seven to eight countries by choosing the average three lowest reference prices to determine the maximum medicine prices allowed here.

Price ceilings are proposed at both the wholesale and retail levels, with violations punished by fines or incarceration.

PhAMA has proposed a price transparency mechanism, where industry players will declare their wholesale prices and the government can compare the retail prices among players.

“By doing this, it will be easier for the government to determine which area has been marked up along the value chain. What we want from the government is to not rush their decision,” Chin said, in a bid to cancel proposed medicine price controls.

PhAMA went even further to advocate mandatory wholesale price declarations for all innovative and generic medicines available in Malaysia, beyond the 400 molecules targeted for price controls.

/Malaysia Reserve 04-11-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Growing Malaysia as a destination for Health Tourism

The country’s healthcare and medical sector is expected to attract two million medical tourists in 2020, propped up by the Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel 2020 (MyHT2020) campaign launched by the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC).

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said the campaign, run in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign, would be promoting the importance of physical and mental well-being by inviting everyone to seek health and wellness treatment while enjoying Malaysia’s tourism attractions.

“We hope with this campaign, we will gain momentum and secure more travellers. We are expecting two million healthcare travellers, bringing in revenue receipts of RM2 billion and contributing RM8 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP),” he told reporters after launching the MyHT2020 here today.

Amiruddin said the forecast number represented a significant increase from last year’s 1.2 million healthcare travellers, who generated RM1.5 billion revenue receipts and contributed RM6.4 billion to the GDP.

“In terms of revenue, Malaysia healthcare tourism’s compound annual growth rate has been an encouraging 17% from 2015 to 2018,” he said.

Amiruddin said healthcare travel made up some 7.6% of total tourism revenues and was expected to grow strongly going forward.

Amiruddin said MyHT2020 would also be playing the role of a catalyst to turn Malaysia into a high-income earning nation.

“MyHT2020 will be a stepping stone towards creating larger demand for healthcare in Malaysia, hence creating a bigger need for healthcare professionals,” he said. 

“Malaysian healthcare, once known as the ‘Hidden Jewel of Asia’, has been internationally recognised as the Destination of the Year for healthcare travel by UK-based International Medical Travel Journal and the Best Country in the World for Healthcare by US-based International LivIn  

MHTC, an agency under the purview of the Finance Ministry, was established in 2009 to facilitate and grow the country’s healthcare travel industry.

In his 2020 Budget speech to Parliament recently, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the government would allocate RM25 million to MHTC to strengthen Malaysia’s position as the preferred destination for health tourism in Asean for oncology, cardiology and fertility treatment.

/Bernama 31-10-2019

 Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.

Pharmaniaga's concession for medical supply terminated

Pharmaniaga's concession to distribute drugs and medical supplies for the Health Ministry will end on November 30 2019. There will be no concessionaire for logistics and distribution services any more, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, and, an open tender system would be introduced instead. 

However, to ensure that medical supplies and health services are not disrupted, Pharmaniaga's services will be extended until the Cabinet decides on the mechanism to manage the open tender, which is hoped to be ready by Q1 2020.  

Historically, the existence of a concession company was the result of the privatisation initiative undertaken by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1994. The privatisation involved the concessionaire taking over all the assets and manpower of the Government Medical Stores under the Health Ministry. 

Since 2009, the Health Ministry has placed a very strict new terms and KPIs, resulting in substantial improvements in supply, services and distribution

For example, Pharmaniaga successfully reduced the delivery period of pharmaceutical supplies from 60 working days to within seven working days in Peninsular Malaysia and 10 working days for Sabah and Sarawak.

The KPIs also required Pharmaniaga to provide door-to-door service delivery even to the remotest areas in the country.

It was also required to develop pharmaceutical manufacturers and other companies within the ecosystem under the Vendor Development Programme (VDP), through which vendors are able to increase their economy, job opportunities, development of employees, R&D capabilities, technology transfer and other downstream effects.

Pharmaniaga, in collaboration with the Health Ministry, was also tasked to develop, implement and maintain the Pharmacy Information System (PhIS), a homegrown system for all government hospitals and health facilities. Completed in 2016, the system reduces wastage through optimal inventory management, lowers the risk of products being expired and minimises medication errors.

There are optimism, shared, that even with the expected open tender system to be introduced in 2020, Pharmaniaga with its processes, infrastructure and system in place, theoretically, should have no issue in successfully winning the tender to supply.

/theSTAR 31-10-2019

Disclaimer: Views or opinions expressed are solely those of the Author and should be used with discretion. The Author shall not be held liable for any acts or omissions arising from the use of the information. The user will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising hereof.