Kuala Lampur, Sept. 19 -- A parent walks into a private clinic with a coughing child due to bad haze. The consultation is brief. Several medicines are prepared. Only at the payment counter does the parent learn that the bill exceeds RM100.

The amount may be entirely reasonable. A doctor's expertise has value, clinics have operating costs and medicines are not free. The troubling part is not necessarily the final figure. It is that the figure appears only after the consultation has ended, the medicines have been packed and the patient is standing at the counter with little practical room to reconsider.

This is a familiar situation in Malaysian healthcare. Patients may not be told clearly which medicines will be supplied, what each one is...