KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry wrote off RM30.47 million in unpaid medical fees from local and foreign patients alike between 2012 and 2014, the 2nd Series of the 2014 Auditor-General’s Report has revealed.

The medical fees were accrued from 2005 to 2007, the report said, adding that RM15.44 million of the fees were from local patients and another RM15.03 million were from foreigners.

The report also noted that there has been an increase in the amount of medical fees written off each year.

In 2012, the ministry wrote off RM6.14 million from unpaid medical bills accrued in 2005; in 2013, RM12.16 million was written off for medical bills from 2006; and in 2014, it wrote off RM12.17 million for bills from 2007.

“There has been an increase of RM6.04 million (98.2%) in write-offs in 2013 compared with the previous year,” read the report. – The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 16, 2015.