YOURSAY 'I have yet to meet a poor doctor, why do they need to sell drugs?'

'Docs will hike consultation fees if not giving medicine'

Fairperson: Former MMA president Dr NKS Tharmaseelan should not view this dispensing separation like a commoner. As a professional he should know that dispensing medication is the task of the professional pharmacist.

As the country progresses and its people become more informed they too would like to know more about what medications they are taking and how these react in the body, details of which are easily obtained through proper counselling with the pharmacists.

Why should a young nation like Malaysia, aspiring to be a developed country by 2020, deprive its population of this kind vital information which has influence on every one of its citizens?

Rural areas having no pharmacies may be true now, but with separating the dispensing of medicines from doctors, pharmacies will definitely be set up even in rural areas.

Anonymous #70881335: Fairperson, you must understand that the pharmaceutical profession grew out of the medical profession. Doctors know more about medicines than pharmacists. Of course, you can argue that a good pharmacist is better than a bad doctor.

True, pharmacists are like 'mechanics' who know how 'the car works', but to drive the car you need the driver... the doctor. The practice of medicine is more than just dispensing medicines... in fact a lot more. So, stay where you are and stop trying to 'play doctor'.

Doc: Simple solution. The rakyat is the user of medical services. Let the individual patient have the choice to choose if he or she wants medication from the doctor or if just a prescription to get the medication from the pharmacy. Last I heard, Malaysia is still a democracy.

RTA: For it to be implemented the government should be more transparent to support its argument with data, like: Will the rakyat benefit? In terms of cost? Better care? Better compliance? Will abuse of self-medication be reduced? Are there any local studies being done?

Don’t just copy what's happening overseas. It may need to be adjusted according to local conditions. If the policy will benefit the rakyat, then be transparent.

Wong Lu Shin: Please remember that the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is no more than a trade association, a professional trade, but a trade nonetheless. The aim is to safeguard the interests of its members.

I see many comments by others that are simply untrue or questionable. For example, that pharmacy as a profession grew out of medicine (actually they started as chemists, and are still called this in the United Kingdom).

To suggest that doctors are the only ones competent to dispense medicine is also a gross generalisation. In every profession, there are good practitioners and there are idiots. One only has to look at malpractice claims all over the world to see that.

I am also not convinced that Malaysia has "the best healthcare in the world", that is only true for the wealthy who can afford United States-style medical care.

Yes, there is an issue of access to pharmacists in the rural areas. However, a system can be put in place to allow exemptions in such situations. Just look at how European countries do this.

Aryan: Just a week ago I went to a pharmacy in Subang Parade and asked for Prednisolone and Tefast D. There was a pharmacist on duty and he did not ask me for a doctor's prescription and sold me the drugs. Prednisolone is a controlled item and should not be dispensed without a doctor's prescription. This is what is happening in most pharmacies today.

Separation can take place if the government is able to control the pharmacies and when the National Health Insurance is in place. When the National Health Insurance is implemented the pharmacies will be paid by the national health insurance agency, which will only reimburse when there is a valid prescription, as happens in all developed countries. The doctors, too, will be paid by the agency and not by the patient.

Till then, maintain the current system where the patient pays out of his pocket to keep the healthcare cost down. People like Fairperson should be lobbying for the National Health Insurance to be implemented first before asking for dispensing separation.

Wira: The present scheme is the cheapest and most efficient in the world. Don't replace it because of the greed of some pharmaceutical companies.

TehTarik: The proposal to remove dispensing rights from doctors will only benefit pharmacists. The one who will suffer the most will be the patient. Not only will he have to pay higher consultation fees, he may also have to walk a mile in the dead of night , dragging his sick body along, to search for a pharmacist. There is every possibility that he might even be mugged along the way.

And all this increased fees and pain, is to satisfy the profit margin of the pharmacists.

Anonymous #81405125: To the best and very smart government, don't spoil and disturb the time-tested system currently, it is the best in this region. Interview the foreign workers about how difficult the separation system is in their home countries, how many have died from doctors dispensing medicine. I am sure more deaths are occurring from road traffic accidents, dengue fever, gangsterism, etc.

So, pharmacists want to eat the share of cake now eaten by the doctors. It is very doubtful they know better about dispensing meds. I agree they know better about pharmacology, but which patient wants to hear the pharmacology part? I

It is a trap that cronies are eyeing, so don't fall into their trap. Leave it to the patients to decide on their own. Here the customer is the patient, not a certain tycoon or large pharmacy chains.

Joe Lee: On balance Dr Tharmaseelan is right. Whenever this government wants to make changes, it usually means there is some bloodthirsty crony somewhere wanting to profit from the hapless typical Malaysian.

Plus, you will be hard put to find one pharmacy in Malaysia that is not totally focused on making money. On the other hand, you can still find doctors who do look genuinely after their patients.

Ros: Pharmacists are already prescribing everything, including antibiotics, without prescription. Expect this to get worse if separation takes place. So, just like the tagline ‘now everyone can fly’, we will have a new one - ‘now everyone can be a doctor’.

Well Thats Fantastic: I have yet to meet a poor doctor. Why do they need to sell drugs? They are doctors!

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