Miri folk can get medicine posted to them

Star: MIRI: A home-delivery service for medicine — the first of its kind in the state — has been launched here.
Initiated by the Health Ministry, patients registered with the Miri Hospital will be able to ask for their medicine to be delivered to their home address using Pos 1Malaysia service at RM6 per delivery.
Miri Divisional Health and Medical Services director Dr Faizul Mansor said the service would eventually be extended to other towns in the state.
“Under the system, anyone who goes for medical check-ups in the Miri Hospital and gets registered as a patient and is treated by a doctor, will qualify for the service.
“When he is at the hospital, he is eligible to get one month’s medicine supply from the pharmacy after his treatment. After that, he can ask the hospital for the home-delivery service,” Dr Faizul explained.
He said the medicine can be delivered to patients for two months.
He added that there were several strict conditions including that the medicine be delivered directly to the patient concerned, and not through a third party; the address of the patient must have a government-recognised postcode; and the medicine must be in tablet form.
“Liquid medicine and powdered medicine will not be delivered in this manner,” said Dr Faizul.
He pointed out that the Miri Hospital was the nucleus hospital for the northern region of Sarawak, serving some 400,000 patients in Sarawak’s northern districts of Miri, Niah, part of Bintulu, Marudi, Limbang and Lawas.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin, who launched the service, said: “This service is a big step forward in improving healthcare in Sarawak.
“Patients living far away from Miri have to spend a lot of money just to come to Miri Hospital to get their medicine. Now that this new service is in place, it will help them save travelling expenditure.”
Chin also said riverine folk living along the Baram River would soon be able to get medical treatment and health checks from mobile clinics.
He said the new and innovative services were part of the community-transformation programme initiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak to help improve the quality of life of people living in the far reaches of the state.
Starting next year, the Health Ministry will deploy boats equipped with proper treatment facilities and trained medical staff on the Baram River so that people living in riverine settlements can board them for health checks and medical attention.