Separation of doctor/pharmacist duties: 'Patients shouldn't suffer'

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The separation of duties between doctors and pharmacists would only be implemented if it does not burden the public.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Ahmad gave this assurance yesterday and said the matter was still being studied.
"We are still conducting research on the matter but it is impractical if the people are adversely affected," he said.
Last week, the New Straits Times had quoted the ministry's director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican as saying that the move to separate the duties of doctors and pharmacists was in the pipeline.
Dr Ismail had said that the pilot project would be implemented in major towns where there were pharmacies located near clinics.
Dr Latif said although the separation of duties had been carried out in other countries, Malaysia might not be able to do the same as there were not enough pharmacists.
The NST had reported that there were about 5,000 registered pharmacists practising in some 1,600 pharmacies in the country.
"Maybe you will not experience the inconvenience if you live in the Klang Valley because you can go to a pharmacy nearby. But in rural areas, like in my village, there's only one pharmacy serving a population of 1,000."
He stressed that the public's welfare would always be the ministry's priority.
He said at present, doctors were still allowed to prescribe and dispense medicine, adding only practitioners in Malaysia and Singapore did not separate the two functions.
On another matter, Dr Latif said the ministry had seized seven herbal products from the market this year.
He said the syndicates had deceived consumers by labelling their products as health products with herbal ingredients but checks found that they also contained harmful ingredients.
He added that those found guilty could be fined up to RM5,000 or two years' jail or both.