Move to curb therapy abuse

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: An Internet-based monitoring system has been set up to give up-to-date information on doctors and other practitioners who provide drug substitution therapy (DST).
The web-based national DST registry will also give information on some 10,000 patients undergoing the therapy in outpatient clinics in the country.
The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia, which set up the database, said it would be launched later this month.
FPMPAM president Dr Steven Chow said doctors would able to access the registry for their patients.
It was designed to complement the patient registry system currently used in the government methadone programme and would also provide a platform for clinical research of addiction medicine in Malaysia, he said in a statement. Dr Chow, who is also the pro tem chairman of the Addiction Medicine Association of Malaysia, said they were working with the Health Ministry to develop guidelines for ethical and responsible addiction treatment.
Quoting figures from the National Anti-Drug Agency, he said that from January to June this year, about 63% of 13,058 addicts were using heroin, morphine and opium.
He said DST was an accepted treatment for drug addiction, where those addicted to opiates, such as heroin, morphine and opium, were treated with methadone or buprenorphine as part of their rehabilitation process to avoid severe withdrawal effects from drug use.
“We are aware that some patients have been engaging in ‘doctor hopping’ or have been injecting a cocktail of prescription medications to get ‘high’.
“By implementing this registry, we can track the progress of patients and ensure that they are not receiving prescriptions beyond the limit stipulated by their doctors.
“This centralised system should curb these medications from being channelled into the black market while ensuring that patients strictly comply with their treatment,” said Dr Chow.
“Doctor hopping” is a routine used by some addicts posing as patients where they visit a number of clinics to obtain prescription medication.
The FPMPAM, founded in 1989, is the national medical body that supports doctors in private practice to provide high quality healthcare through continuing medical education, ethics advocacy and public outreach programmes.
It offers confidential community-based addiction treatment through its nationwide “Doctors Who Care” programme where individuals who wish to recover from opiate addiction can receive treatment from more than 300 trained family physicians.