Free postal delivery of medicines from Oct 1, says minister

The communications ministry, through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, will help the health ministry provide free postal delivery of medicines to patients who opt for the service from next month.

Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the initiative would be implemented nationwide with an allocation of about RM5 million.

“Previously, patients had to pay for the postal delivery of medicines, but from Oct 1, they will no longer have to pay as the cost will be fully borne by the government through MCMC,” he told reporters after reviewing the National Digital Health Ecosystem and Connectivity Driver (Persada) initiative project at the Padang Besar health clinic today.

Present were communications ministry secretary-general Abdul Halim Hamzah and Perlis health director Dr Ghazali Chik.

In June, Fahmi was reported to have said that the government would fully bear the cost of delivering medicines to about 80,000 patients a month under the Postal Medicine Delivery Programme, through a collaboration between MCMC and the health ministry.