Malaysian Medical Association passes resolution demanding answers to concerns on TPPA impact on access to medicine

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are pleased to share the Malaysian Medical Association’s (MMA) resolution, passed at its 54^th annual general meeting (AGM), voicing concern about the negative impacts the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will have on the medical profession and public health in the country.

The MMA had earlier this year joined forces with 19 other medical non-governmental organisations to state their opposition to proposals in the TPPA that go beyond the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

At its AGM held from 29-31 May in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, MMA called on the Minister of International Trade and Industry as the lead Malaysian ministry for the TPPA negotiations to explain how it would redress the agreement’s “negative impact on the integrity of the medical profession and the health of the population of Malaysia, if the TPPA is ratified.”

More particularly, the TPPA would lead to “reduced access to cheap generic medicines, due to the much stricter implementation of the provisions for ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ in the proposed TPPA,” said the resolution.

Secondly, it stated further, proposals in the TPPA to undertake the “liberalisation” of the health care sector in signatory countries would mandate that foreign corporations be given the same access to the Malaysian domestic market as Malaysian firms and lead to the proliferation of, for example, private hospitals and managed care organisations from the United States and other TPPA countries.

“We wish to know specifically how the potentially negative repercussions of tighter Intellectual Property Rights and Health Care Sector liberalisation are going to be ameliorated,” the resolution concluded.

With best wishes,

Third World Network
131 Jalan Macalister
10400 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twnet@po.jaring.my
Websites: www.twn.my
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(Extract of Resolution for MMA AGM  -  May 2014)

Recognising that

• the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will clearly have a deep impact on the livelihood and well-being of all Malaysians;
• foreign investors should not have the power to limit advancements in law/policy/practice of the State, which are aimed at improving the livelihood and welfare of workers;
• TPPA negotiations are being carried out secretly without public consultation;
• any trade agreement between countries should be based on just and equal treatment before the law in the host country and therefore should not vest additional rights and powers on foreign investors;
• the TPPA will result in extreme protection and promotion of foreign investors and their investments and inevitably lead to an increasing number of investor-state dispute challenges;
• investor protection clauses in the TPPA, including investor-state dispute settlement procedures, will empower foreign investors to sue the Malaysian government in a foreign arbitration tribunal, if they suffer losses as a result of any action taken to protect Malaysians from health hazards, such as tobacco control;
• the TPPA is devoid of similar reciprocity which will empower the Malaysian government to sue an investor for damaging public health or degrading the environment; on the contrary, the TPPA will disable Malaysia from implementing policies/laws/regulations for the public good;
• the Malaysian government is contemplating ratification of the TPPA later this year and that the Secretary General of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has invited civil society to specify its areas of concern; 

We, the members of the Malaysian Medical Association, request the Minister of International Trade and Industry to immediately provide detailed information about the following specific health care issues that will have a negative impact on the integrity of the medical profession and the health of the population of Malaysia, if the TPPA is ratified:

1. Reduced access to cheap generic medicines, due to the much stricter implementation of the provisions for ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ in the proposed TPPA.
2. An influx of Managed Care Organisations from the United States and other countries, arising from the “liberalisation” of the health care sector which, among other provisions, mandates that US firms be given the same access to the Malaysian domestic market as Malaysian firms.
3. A proliferation of Private Hospitals, owned by US corporations.

We wish to know specifically how the potentially negative repercussions of tighter Intellectual Property Rights and Health Care Sector liberalisation are going to be ameliorated.