COMMENT Several inconsistencies were highlighted by the speakers at the ‘Rang Undang Undang Farmasi 2015 Forum’ organised by the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Association of Malaysia last Saturday in Subang.

A total of 17 associations, representing the doctors, dentist and veterinarians were present at the Forum and we were appalled that the Pharmacy Bill 2015 will result in the amalgamation of four  Acts of Parliament into one.

The Acts to be combined are the Pharmacist Registration Act 1951, Sales of Drug Act 1952, Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Drug Advertisement Act 1956.

The Pharmacy Bill, as the name suggests should administer and regulate the pharmacists. However, due to the amalgamation of four Acts into one, the Bill with not only affect consumers, but also affect practitioners such as doctors, dentists and veterinarians.

The power of the director-general of Health will also be compromised.

We hence urge the Health Ministry to declassify the Pharmacy Bill 2015 as the stakeholders are not aware of its contents. The power to declassify this Bill is with the health minister under Section 2C of the Official Secrets Act;

Public online engagement conducted to gauge the feedback from the public, had less than two percent of the public as respondents. The response from the public was poor because it was not publicised that the ministry was asking for public feedback on this issue.

More than 95 percent of respondents were noted to be pharmacists who agreed to dispensing separation. Hence this online public feedback could be assumed as biased and does not reflect the true feelings of the consumers.

Pilot project

Proper public consultation should be undertaken and conducted by the ministry.

All stakeholders should be included in the drafting of the bill. On March 4, the Pharmacy Department called doctors associations for a dialogue on the Pharmacy Bill.

However on arrival at the meeting, we realised that it was a briefing without a copy of the bill being shown to us. Hence all doctors politely declined to continue with the meeting until the bill is declassified by the minister.

Since then, no survey or study has been conducted by the ministry to gauge public perception of this major shift of the nations health policy.

 

The ministry should conduct a study and publish the result this study in journals to support this transformation which they have been suggesting.

Apart from a public survey, the ministry should conduct pilot projects in the hospitals and clinics under the ministry.

In the pilot project, a patient who sees a doctor in a ministry hospital, is made to collect his/her medicine at another facility outside the hospital /clinic where  the patient has sought treatment.

If this is successful, then the ministry should embark on a pilot project involving private primary healthcare clinics.

Consumers  and consumer associations should be made aware of the deficiencies in the current system and why this transformation is needed.

Till today, there has been no convincing reasons given as to why our health system has to undergo a total revamp. The age old saying, if it ain’t broken, why fix it, comes to mind.

Consumer rejection

An independent survey conducted by consumers recently revealed that 95 percent of consumers are against this proposal due to probably lack of knowledge.

The ministry should embark on a nationwide roadshow to engage the public on the Pharmacy Bill, dispensing separation, healthcare system transformation and how it will benefit the public.

Any transformation to the healthcare system should benefit the consumers the most. The health of nation is paramount. At the same time it should be a win-win situation for all healthcare professionals, dentists and veterinarians included.

The healthcare professionals will work with the government and ministry to enhance healthcare for all Malaysians.

We will support any system which enhances low cost for consumers, patient convenience, treatment compliance, patient confidentiality , patient safety and choice given to the consumers.

But to work, we need to know the contents of the bill before it is passed in Parliament, not after.

We urge the Health Ministry to be more transparent and for the minister to meet medical groups as soon as possible.

DR MOHD HANAFIAH HAMIDON represents Persatuan Doktor Islam Malaysia, while DR RAJ KUMAR MAHARJAH represents the Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia.