What are the costs associated with being a consultant?

Will I earn enough to cover costs?

To begin answering this question, we must first take a look at what being a consultant costs in Malaysia.

Similarly to the UK, costs included

Cost of medical indemnity

A more in depth explanation of how medical indemnity works in Malaysia is covered in another article but in short, the whole cost of indemnity is borne by you.

Additional CPD

By and large, you will bear the entire cost of additional CPD. Occasionally, it is subsidized by the hospital but this is individually negotiated with the hospital.

Malaysian Medical Council Costs

Like the GMC, it will cost to obtain full registration and maintain your license to practice yearly. The equivalent of the yearly GMC registration fee is the fee for the Annual Practicing Certificate (APC).

Further details on the APC will be released soon.

A full list of fees can be found here

As you can see, it is not costly to maintain your MMC registration and APC.

Unlike the UK, additional costs include

Administrative Fee

This is a fee payable to the hospital you work in. It covers hospital costs including collecting payments on your behalf, utilities and branding.

Clinic room rental

If your specialty requires a clinic room, you can rent one from the hospital. You used to be able to buy clinic rooms but this model is often not practiced anymore.

You do not need to rent operating rooms or ward space; this is paid by the patient and their insurance provider.

A contribution to the salary of your personal nurses and any additional staff you require

Hospitals often provide a personal nurse that runs your clinic. You will often bear a proportion of the salary of these nurses.

It is not common to have administrative or secretarial staff. You may choose to hire these staff but you will have to bear the entire cost of their salaries.

Tax deductible

Similarly to the UK, many of these expenses can be tax deductible. According to guidelines from the Inland Revenue Board, the following expenses are tax deductible

1. Professional indemnity insurance

2. Fees incurred attending CPD

3. Employer’s contribution to EPF

4. Rental of consultation rooms

Conclusion

As doctors who have worked wholly in the UK, we are often not familiar with costs like clinic room rentals or staff salaries.

Private practice in Malaysia is run like a business - there are costs associated with being open for business but there is also revenue from patients.

As a new consultant on the Guaranteed Monthly Income (GMI) scheme, certain costs may be waived depending on individual negotiations. However, as you start establishing your practice, your revenue often covers your costs, many times over.

It may even be useful to hire an accountant to apply for tax deductions on eligible costs to increase your take home income.