Dispensing medicine: Patients should be given a choice
By : DR HAFIZ LAW, President, Penang Medical Practitioners' SocietyNST, 15th April 2008
THE Penang Medical Practitioners' Society (PMPS) would like to respond to the statements made in the media regarding the right of doctors to dispense medicine.
The PMPS views the statement attributed to the past president of the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society with great regret and concern.
To say "a pharmacist spent four years acquiring knowledge about medicine compared with a doctor who has none" is irresponsible, uncalled for and bordering on absurdity.
Doctors are knowledgeable in clinical pharmacology, which is part of the medical undergraduate curriculum, and doctors spend a greater part of their working life treating patients with medicine.
All doctors are familiar with the usefulness, interactions and side-effects of drugs. If a patient develops adverse reactions from any medicine, he sees a doctor to diagnose and treat the side-effects not a pharmacist.
It is also not true that doctors only prescribe branded medicines. Most general practitioners and hospitals prescribe generic drugs if the patients choose the cheaper generic drugs.
Doctors are aware of the economics of healthcare and try to deliver effective and efficient care at affordable costs.
As a body of medical doctors, we believe the interests of the patient are of primary concern. Let the patients decide if they would like to collect medicine from the doctors or pharmacists.
In all government hospitals and many private hospitals, doctors do not dispense medicine. However, general practitioners should be allowed to dispense, maintaining the status quo allowed by the Poisons Act 1952.
Of course, patients should always be allowed to collect the prescribed medicine from their preferred pharmacists should they wish to do so.
To say "a pharmacist spent four years acquiring knowledge about medicine compared with a doctor who has none" is irresponsible, uncalled for and bordering on absurdity.
Doctors are knowledgeable in clinical pharmacology, which is part of the medical undergraduate curriculum, and doctors spend a greater part of their working life treating patients with medicine.
All doctors are familiar with the usefulness, interactions and side-effects of drugs. If a patient develops adverse reactions from any medicine, he sees a doctor to diagnose and treat the side-effects not a pharmacist.
Doctors are aware of the economics of healthcare and try to deliver effective and efficient care at affordable costs.
As a body of medical doctors, we believe the interests of the patient are of primary concern. Let the patients decide if they would like to collect medicine from the doctors or pharmacists.
In all government hospitals and many private hospitals, doctors do not dispense medicine. However, general practitioners should be allowed to dispense, maintaining the status quo allowed by the Poisons Act 1952.
Of course, patients should always be allowed to collect the prescribed medicine from their preferred pharmacists should they wish to do so.
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