Materia Medica Malaysiana

Prevent wastage of medicine, doctors advised

KUALA LUMPUR: Some doctors in public hospitals overprescribe medicine or give a longer course of treatment which results in wastage, Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said.
He said there must be a serious commitment on the part of government doctors and hospital administrators to check this trend as a substantial amount of money could be saved.
Dr Latiff said his statement on the matter should not be misconstrued as “disturbing the clinical liberty of doctors in public hospitals.”
“Instead of giving 10 tablets, they would give 20. There is a lot of wastage. What I am saying is that if a patient comes with a simple respiratory tract infection and suffers from fever, cough and running nose, most doctors prescribe a two-day treatment with no antibiotics.
Dr Latiff: 'The Government had to reduce funds for drugs in 1997'.
“However, some of them prescribe five days of treatment with antibiotics even for a viral infection. There is normally no need for antibiotics here. Only in exceptional cases do you give antibiotics,” he said in an interview yesterday.
Dr Latiff said that three days of medicine were wasted in such cases, adding that the Government spent some RM800mil a year to subsidise the cost of drugs for patients, who pay only RM1 for all drugs prescribed by doctors at government hospitals or clinics.
“For instance, patients with hypertension or diabetes need a three-month supply of medicine for which they only pay RM1. They will not appreciate it,” he said, adding that some patients would ask for the medicine again when they lose it.
Citing another example, he said patients suffering from hypertension were sometimes given three types of drugs even when it was not necessary.
He said one was to relax the muscles of the vessels, another for the kidney and the third for the brain, adding that only certain cases needed all three drugs.
Dr Latiff said that for a patient suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, medication for two months could easily cost about RM2,000 if medicines were overprescribed.
“Doctors could save the Government RM1,000 if they put in some effort in prescribing the appropriate medicine,” he said.
He said that during the recession in 1997, the Government had to reduce funds for drugs and hospitals “tailored” their needs according to the money available by cutting down on overprescription.
“I am sure this can be done now. We need to educate our doctors on this,” he said.
Dr Latiff emphasised that whatever is done to save costs would not be at the expense of quality treatment for the people, especially because most of those seeking treatment at public hospitals were from the lower-income group.