NO one can profiteer by raising the prices of face masks, period. This is something that the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry agree on.
Both concurred that the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act of 2011 stipulated that anyone selling or providing price-controlled goods or services such as face masks had to follow the gazetted rule.
"No one is above the law, not even private hospitals," said Fomca president Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason, who referred to a private hospital which was compounded RM200,000 for charging RM11.20 for a single three-ply face mask, which has a ceiling price of RM1.50 a piece.
"They can claim that their way of doing business is different, but this is a law passed by Parliament, and if an exemption is made for them, especially during a time where there is a dire need for face masks, it will be a joke. The government won't be able to enforce the rule even when dealing with those profiteering on essential items like eggs and fish."
He said private hospitals had other means of sustaining their business instead of marking up the price of masks during the Movement Control Order, adding that the Health director-general and Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi also had to come out with statements.
He said this was because the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) had put the latter in the spotlight by saying that it was looking to secure a meeting with him, and that explanations on why the rule stands had to come out before AHPM meets with Nanta Linggi.
On the heels of the compound, the association announced its plans to meet Nanta Linggi to explain that private hospitals were not retail outlets and had their unique structure on generating revenue and sustaining business.
It, however, refused to say whether it was bound by the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act of 2011.
The private hospital was compounded after a father of a patient took to social media to complain that he was billed RM201.60 for 18 face masks used by hospital workers treating his daughter.
The ministry's Enforcement director, Datuk Iskandar Halim Sulaiman, said that the compound was issued in accordance with Section 11 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act of 2011.
"The law clearly states that action can be taken against those who flout it and they were charging for the use of the mask in their bill. It doesn't matter who you are — trader or private hospital — you have to abide by the price control rules and not charge more than the maximum or ceiling price of the controlled items."
He said the private hospital could choose to pay the compound or be taken to court for the offence. He also urged those with similar issues with profiteering to contact any of the ministry's hotlines, or portals and provide full details of the purchase in the report.