The ministry said allied health services are regulated under the Allied Health Professions Act (AHPA) 2016, with a list of government-recognised professions outlined in the Act’s Second Schedule.

The list includes dietitians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists.

Under current legislation, the ministry said, tax exemption is given if allied health services are provided in government clinics or hospitals, private clinics or hospitals, as well as university hospitals.

“The imposition of service tax on allied health services is not a new matter. These services were already taxed during the sales and service tax (SST) 1.0 era and the goods and services tax (GST) starting on April 1, 2015. The same policy continued when SST 2.0 was implemented starting on Sept 1, 2018,” said the ministry in a written parliamentary reply, Bernama reported.

The ministry was responding to a question from Wong Chen (PH-Subang) regarding the government’s position on exempting allied healthcare services from SST.

The ministry, however, said that the government would continue to review and assess the policy in the future.

“This review needs to take into account various aspects, especially to ensure that any tax exemption provides appropriate benefits to users, particularly in terms of cost to users and the safety of service premises,” it added.

In January, senator Dr RA Lingeshwaran called on the government to review its policy on imposing SST on certain allied healthcare clinics.

He said some of these providers have also submitted their request to be exempted as they provide vital services.