MEDICAL REPORT FOR COMMERCIAL DRIVERS: Online reporting delayed

NST: Negotiations over cost are delaying the Road Transport Department’s plans to use a single company’s online system to handle medical reports for commercial drivers.
The system, developed by the company Pantai Supreme Systems, was to have been launched in September, but its proposed charges have met with objections from doctors and members of the transport industry.
The proposed fee could be as much as double what most doctors charge now for a medical examination of a commercial driver, they said.
Commercial drivers are required to pass medical examinations every year for their driving licences to be renewed. Those who are unfit or who do not want to be examined may submit medical reports whose authenticity are difficult to check.
The online system will allow clinics around the country to forward medical reports directly to the RTD. The concession for implementation of the system was awarded to Pantai Supreme last year.
"We are still in the final stages of discussion with RTD and the Malaysian Medical Association on the costing and the date to implement the system," said Pantai Supreme director Datuk Nordin Yahya.
Nordin declined to say how much the company would charge, saying he would leave the decision to the Malaysian Medical Association.
Pantai Supreme is owned by private healthcare group Pantai Holdings Bhd, which bought a 51 per cent stake in the company last year.
The MMA today said Pantai Supreme was planning to charge RM85 for the use of its online system to submit a medical report to the RTD. The cost includes a fixed RM35 fee for an examination by doctors on its panel, said MMA president Datuk Dr Teoh Siang Chin.
He said the plan would mean "higher costs for clients and the community". "We appeal to the minister to urgently review the terms of the award" to the concessionaire, he said in a statement today.
He also said the association opposed the fixed RM35 fee the company would pay doctors for medical examinations.
Pantai Supreme had advertised for doctors to join its panel last year.
Teoh also said the MMA was looking into other matters, such as screening methods and the reporting structure of the on-line system.
The MMA will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Pantai Supreme Systems once all the issues had been ironed out, he said.
Checking the authenticity of medical reports was a problem for the RTD, said Dr J.S. Deo, chairman of the Malaysian Doctors’ Co-operative Society Ltd. "In many cases, forging a medical report is as easy as replicating a rubber stamp," he explained.
Still, he criticised the award of the concession to one company. "It will have a virtual monopoly in the country."
He estimated that most clinics charged an average of RM30 for a check-up.
He stressed that Pantai Supreme could net more than RM30 million in profit from fees it would receive from Malaysia’s 900,000 commercial drivers who must renew their licences every year.
Another medical association, Primary Care Doctors Organisation Malaysia, also criticised the award, saying that it had developed a cheaper alternative with money from a government grant.
Produced on a RM1 million grant from the Science and Technology Ministry, its Primary Care system would cost much less to use.
"It could cost as little as RM1 to relay medical report from a clinic to the RTD," said the organisation president Dr Molly Cheah who was part of a team of 50 doctors who helped develop the system.
Pan Malaysia Lorry Operators Association president Er Sui See said medical exams conducted by companies’ own panel doctors can cost as little as RM5 to RM10.
"Once this system is introduced, doctors will have to be on (Pantai Supreme’s) panel. A standard fee will be charged and it is unlikely that it will be cheap," he said.
Er said RTD needed to audit the renewal process and make random checks. "RTD could always ask the doctor to fax a copy to them to verify."
Pan Malaysian Bus Operators’ Association president Datuk Mohd Ashfar Ali said it would oppose any move that would cause costs to exceed RM30. "We support the effort to make medical check-ups for drivers rigorous and tamper-proof. But charging an exorbitant price like RM85 would be simply ridiculous."
RTD director-general Datuk Emran Kadir declined to comment on Pantai Supreme’s fees.