KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Parliament approved yesterday a motion to double the list medicines zero-rated under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was announced during the tabling of Budget 2016.

The move will bring the number of drugs free of GST to 8,630, and included all controlled medicines under the Schedule Poison A, B, C and D as well as 95 over-the-counter medicine brands.

The zero-rated list of common food items, such as for soy-based and organic milk for babies, has also been expanded.

The motion was submitted by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong, seconded by Deputy Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Halimah Sadique and subsequently approved by Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee.

This comes after the Malaysian Consumer and Family Economics Association said last March that all medicines should be exempted from GST as it was a necessity to the general public.

Malaysia’s extensive list of exempted and zero-rated items has been criticised for making the GST system overly complex and for diminishing the purpose of what is meant to be a universal consumption tax.

The GST was introduced a year ago on April 1 and remains unpopular with the public.