Call for herbal medicines, complementary treatment be exempted from GST

A Member of Parliament on Tuesday called for herbal-based traditional medicines and complementary therapies and treatments to be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Datuk Wee Jeck Seng (BN-Tanjong Piai) said herbal-based medicines were quite important for those suffering from less-chronic illness, while complementary treatments, such as acupuncture and cupping therapy, were as important to those who preferred them.

"At the tabling of the 2015 Budget, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that medicines for common illness will be exempted from the GST, but not for herbal-based medicines.

"This is worrying because according to a recent report in a Chinese daily, the price of traditional medicines is expected to go up by two to five per cent after the implementation of the GST," he said when debating the Supply Bill 2015 at the Dewan Rakyat sitting here Tuesday.

As such, he said it was feared that traditional Chinese medicine shops, as well as Bumiputera complementary treatment service outlets, would be badly affected and become less competitive due to the implementation of the GST.