MMA comes to doctors' defence

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Medical Association president Dr David Quek has come to the defence of private doctors who were said to have failed to report suspected dengue cases to the Health Ministry.
He explained that dengue in its early presentation was very similar to many viral infections.
"If doctors start referring cases to the ministry, there might be too many cases which are not dengue at all.
"Also, not every patient agrees to have blood testing because this costs money and there are lots of viruses out there which need to be excluded," he said in the inaugural NSTLive panel discussion yesterday.
Dr Quek said another factor was that many patients refused to go for follow-ups and chose to "doctor-hop" when their fever did not improve after a day or two.
By the time they get to hospital, their condition would have deteriorated.
The association president said dengue was endemic with periodic peaks. He said it was also seasonal and related to the climate.
"Most important is the breeding of the Aedes mosquito. We must try to eradicate this first. The public must play its part to keep the immediate environment clean and free from the breeding sites of the mosquito."
To the question of whether doctors were prepared to face an outbreak of locally transmitted influenza A (H1N1), Dr Quek said he was not sure if anyone was prepared for it.
"But, because it is already spreading here, we all have to learn very fast. There is no doubt that this is a moderately serious type of flu, which so far seems very contagious, and has killed about one in every 200 infections, which makes it rather in between in terms of lethality."
He said the old Spanish flu was far more contagious, affecting one billion people worldwide at its peak and killing more than 40 million. SARS, too, killed about one in six or seven people.
However, he added that the H1N1 flu was worrying because it had the potential to mutate into a more virulent form which could become a very serious killer.
"This can happen in the second or third wave after the H1N1 flu reaches pandemic level 6, which it has.
"That is why we are so concerned and the Health Ministry is making every effort to contain the situation and prevent this from becoming more serious. You will hear of more preventive measures in the weeks to come."
Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Datuk Nancy Ho said there were enough flu medicines, hand disinfectants and masks for the common flu and H1N1.
"However, Tamiflu needs to be prescribed by doctors."
She also assured the public that pharmacists were definitely not taking advantage of the situation by raising prices.
She said MMA and MPS were on high alert to ensure that the situation gets the best attention.
"Members of the public can seek information and advice about the precautionary steps to take to protect adults and children adequately.
"At the same time, all medicines required are managed to ensure the best outcomes."
She said MPS strongly advocated personal care for the public and provided information and public health measures to contain the situation through counselling especially by community pharmacists.
"Our roles as healthcare providers include active sharing of information and knowledge.
"We are also working closely with the Pharmaceutical Services Division in terms of updating and disseminating useful information to members of the public.
"We also work as a team with other healthcare provi-ders such as doctors and nurses."