Patients' Willingness to Pay For Their Own Medications in Healthcare Setting in Perlis, Malaysia

Introduction Healthcare services provided by the Ministry of Health such as medical, dental and pharmaceutical services are highly subsidized, which leads to increase burden in government financial. In Malaysia, the public health care is highly funded by government where patients only contribute about 3% of the total cost of providing health care services. Public has been relying on the subsidized healthcare system which has contributed to the negative perception towards any proposed user fees in this setting eventhough the idea is to reduce government's burden. Dependency towards government subsidy can deprive the necessary development of the nation. Rational of study Based on Pharmaceutical Services Division Annual Report 2016, national drug expenditure was MYR 2.1 billion for all MOH hospitals, institutions and health clinics. For each visit to government facilities, Malaysians only pay a user fee of only RM1 for general clinic and RM 5 for specialist clinic for consultations, investigations and medications. With the increase in the cost of healthcare, the current fees are no longer suitable. Objectives To investigate the value in ringgit Malaysia that patients are willing to pay for their medications and to study socio demographic factors that influence the patients’ willingness to pay for their medications. Methods Study Design and Population A cross-sectional study via questionnaires survey. Convenient sampling method was used. • Target population: Residents living in Perlis (both high and low income group). Distributed in Hospital Tuanku Fauziah, Klinik Kesihatan Kangar and Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Perlis. Survey tools (Validated questionnaire that consists of 4 parts) Socio-demographic data. Patient's treatment expenses. Patient's willingness to pay. Maximum amount that patient is willing to pay for drugs procurement. Study Visits and Procedures A set of questionnaires was distributed to the public during the data collection period. Data was classified based on socio-demographic, patient's willingness to pay for their drugs and factors associated with patient's willingness to pay for their drugs. Statistical Analysis Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows Version 20.0. Data obtained was validated using Chi square test and a value of p