What the rule is
The instrument is the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering (Price Marking for Drug) Order 2025, in Malay the Perintah Kawalan Harga dan Antipencatutan (Penandaan Harga bagi Ubat) 2025, published in the Federal Government Gazette as P.U.(A) 141 on 30 April 2025. It was made under section 10 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (Act 723) by the Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, and it came into operation on 1 May 2025.
It applies to two kinds of premises: private healthcare facilities as defined in the Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, which the Ministry's FAQ spells out as private hospitals, private medical clinics, private dental clinics, ambulatory care centres, hospices, nursing homes, maternity homes, psychiatric facilities, haemodialysis centres and community mental health centres; and community pharmacies. An aesthetic clinic is a private medical clinic, so it is inside the rule.
What must be displayed, and how
The Order covers medicines, defined by reference to the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 and the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984, for human use. The Ministry's FAQ lists what that means in practice: controlled medicines that only a doctor or registered pharmacist may supply, over-the-counter medicines, traditional medicines, health supplements, and extemporaneous or specially approved preparations. In other words, if it is a registered medicine or a supplement supplied to you at the premises, its price belongs on the list.
The display can take two forms. Medicines on open display for sale carry a price tag or label on the item itself, showing the cash price per unit, per pack or per measure in ringgit. Medicines kept behind the counter, or otherwise not visible to the patient, go on a selling price list. The list must show four things: the generic name or active ingredient with its strength, the trade name, the price per unit, and the selling price per pack, in ringgit. It must not state indications or uses, because that would make it an advertisement under the Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act 1956. It must be in the national language or English.
The list has to be physically accessible at the premises throughout operating hours: a printed catalogue, a notice board, a laptop or tablet, a kiosk screen, or any suitable device, at the clinic's choice, and the FAQ says the patient should be able to read it without needing a personal device of their own. For a private clinic, the Ministry's suggested location is the registration area.
What it means at an aesthetic clinic
Three things sit on an aesthetic bill, and the rule reaches only one of them cleanly. The first is medicines: a registered medicine dispensed to you, whether that is an antibiotic after a procedure, a numbing cream, or a registered pharmaceutical used in treatment, is a drug in the Order's sense and belongs on the price list. The second is medical devices: products regulated under the Medical Device Act 2012, which is where most dermal fillers and skin boosters sit, are not medicines and are outside this Order. The third is the doctor's fee for consultation and procedure, which the Order does not touch; the Ministry's own FAQ says the decision on treatment and medicine remains the doctor's, and that the rule exists so a patient can compare medicine prices and choose a facility with reasonable ones, not to set fees.
Whether the Order reaches a medicine that is administered as part of a procedure fee rather than sold to you over the counter is a question we have not seen the Ministry answer in writing, and this page will not guess. What the FAQ does say, twice, is useful regardless: a patient has the right to ask for an itemised bill after treatment, to compare what was charged with what was displayed, and a receipt or itemised bill does not replace the physical price display, because the display is meant to inform you before you pay. So the practical position for a patient is simple. Look for the list at reception. Ask for the itemised bill. If a medicine appears on the bill at a price that is not on the list, you have a question to ask.
The Ministry also publishes a reference price guide, the Malaysia Medicine Price Guide (MyPriMe), on the Pharmacy Services Programme site, as guidance for the public on private-sector medicine prices. It is a guide, not a cap.
Who enforces it, and the timeline
The Order was made by the trade ministry, but the FAQ sets out a division of labour: monitoring and enforcement of the display requirement is carried out by the Ministry of Health with the guidance and cooperation of KPDN, and where a price difference or profiteering is found, KPDN takes the action. The early phase, the FAQ says, was to be handled with advocacy so that facilities could adjust in stages.
That is how it went. On 3 August 2025 the two ministries issued a joint statement on implementation. As reported the same day by RTM and Bernama, it recorded that 842 private facilities had been inspected in the first three months, with 57 percent showing satisfactory compliance; that educational enforcement would continue to 30 September 2025; that from 1 October 2025 compounds could be issued for repeat offences; and that full enforcement would begin on 1 January 2026. The Ministry's media page lists the statement under that date; on the day this page was reviewed the attached document itself did not open, so the figures here are taken from the two government news reports of it, and that is noted in the sources.
Penalties are set in the Order and restated in the FAQ. An individual who fails to display prices is liable to a compound of up to RM25,000, or on conviction a fine of up to RM50,000; a body corporate to a compound of up to RM50,000, or a fine of up to RM100,000. The Order's own penalty clause is the one that applies to display; the larger figures sometimes quoted are the Act's general profiteering penalties.
How to complain
If a clinic or pharmacy is not displaying prices, or a displayed price does not match what was charged, the FAQ gives the channels: KPDN's hotline on 1-800-886-800, WhatsApp on 019-848 8000, the Ez ADU smartphone app, and the e-aduan portal at eaduan.kpdn.gov.my. Bring the receipt or itemised bill, the medicine name, quantity and price, the date, the premises name and address, and a photograph showing the missing display.
What the rule does not do
It does not cap medicine prices, and it does not set or cap consultation or procedure fees. It does not cover medical devices. It does not let a patient direct treatment: the FAQ is explicit that diagnosis and the choice of medicine remain the doctor's. And it does not, on its own, require an itemised bill; the right to ask for one is stated in the FAQ as the patient's, and a well-run clinic will hand it over without being asked.
At this clinic the medicine price list is at the reception desk, and any patient may ask for an itemised bill. The cost guide sets out how treatment fees, as distinct from medicine prices, are put together.
