MMA opposes move to make pharmacist sole dispensing agents

NST: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) will oppose a move by the Health Ministry to make pharmacists the sole dispensing agents in the country.
Its president, Datuk Dr Khoo Kah Lin, said based on the ministry’s statistics in 2006, the pharmacist-population ratio in the public sector is 1:29,966, the private sector 1:7,828 and the total ratio is 1:6,207.
He said MMA felt that the public should be left to decide from where they wanted to obtain medication, either from a doctor or pharmacist.
“In helping them to make such a choice, the public need to have all the facts regarding the present position, their advantages and disadvantages and the costs to them as individuals and a community, if the system is to be changed,” he said in a statement here today.
Yesterday, Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said soon, doctors would only be allowed to issue Rx-prescribe medications but patients needed to obtain their medication from pharmacies.
Currently, doctors especially at private clinics diagnose diseases, prescribe medicines and dispense them to patients.
Dr Khoo said some local manufacturers did not use the same base substance as the original patented drug.
“Thus, although the amount of active substance is the same, the potency and duration of action may differ...so may the shelf life of the drug.
“This is the main reason most doctors still prefer to use patented medicine, not because we want to gain profit or get incentives,” he said.
Dr Khoo said if the proposal shot off prematurely, patients would face the inconvenience of having to travel to another location to buy the medicine prescribed by the doctor.
He said if there was to be change, it should be made gradually beginning with the larger towns, and pilot studies should be considered so that problems that arise could be ironed out.
“In the meantime, both professions (doctor and pharmacist), together with the ministry could look at this problem objectively and solve it amicably, keeping in mind the interest of patients,” he said.