Materia Medica Malaysiana

Compulsory three-year service for pharmacists

KUALA LUMPUR: Newly registered pharmacists will have to undergo a three-year mandatory service in the public sector effective early next year to help overcome the shortage faced by public health institutions, Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said.

He said the Cabinet had approved the ministry's proposal several weeks ago to amend the Registration of Pharmacists Act 1951, which would be tabled in the next Parliament sitting in September.

"Out of the current 3,234 pharmacists practising in the country, only 583 or 18% are in the public sector, with most of them working with the ministry," he said.

He also said of the 1,845 pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy Board from 1994 to 2002, only 280 or 15.2% chose to work in the public sector, adding that there were 988 pharmacy posts available in the ministry and more than half of the vacancies have yet to be filled.

Chua said the vacancy rates were high in Sarawak (79.6%), Negri Sembilan (72.1%), Sabah (68.2%), and Selangor (61.5%). "Even the Kuala Lumpur Hospital has a vacancy rate or 63.6%," he added.

"This poses a problem as the most of the patients are in the government hospitals and clinics and not in the private sector. This affects the effective distribution of pharmaceutical services to patients," he told reporters after addressing NGOs at the second day of the ministry’s annual health dialogue here today.

Chua said to accommodate this amendment, about 3,000 new posts of pharmacists would be created by 2020, with approximately RM72mil being utilised between 2004 and 2020 on emoluments for them.

"The compulsory service will provide invaluable experience to the young people as it will expose them to a range of professional experience. These include regulatory enforcement and clinical pharmacy practices," he said.