Doctors to be disallowed from dispensing medicines

Well, this is a good news for all the pharmacy students and pharmacists in Malaysia. Finally, dispensing separation is carried out, where only pharmacists can dispense medicines while doctors can only prescribe medications.

Malaysian pharmacists have fight for this for almost 20 years. However, from the past few years, we always heard that dispensing separation will be carried out in 5 years time. Yet, a lot of pharmacists think that it is difficult to carry out as lack of pharmacists in this country. And some of them also said that, most of the members of MOH are doctors. They won't put their careers into high risk.

As we know, doctors earn money mostly from the medications they prescribed and dispensed. As dispensing separation occurs, doctors can only earn money from consultation and not from the medications. This will finally led to lower incomes for doctors.

However, if think more deeply, it is a good way for both pharmacists and doctors. Doctors can now more focus on their job, such as diagnosing and precribing, while pharmacists can reduce the workload of doctors, by handling dispensing and counseling on medications use.

And from this mutual cooperations from both pharmacists and doctors, the final comsumers, the patients will be benifited the most.

However, this will only be launched at selected major towns for this time-being with close monitoring by the MOH. But I believed that, dispensing separation will occur soon in someday in the future but not too far away from now. I believed......

more information, pls visit http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/Frontpage/2198656/Article/index_html

Last but not least, did you all know what are the roles of pharmacists anyway?

29/3/08 11.30pm
Latest news, an article on "No decision on docs dispensing medicine" was published in The Star stated that the MOH has denied the report/article published in the NST.
Further information, pls visit
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/3/29/nation/20080329181846&sec=nation

1/4/08 11.39am
Conversation between John Chang from MPS and Datuk Dr Khoo Kah Lin from MMA.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/Frontpage/2200105/Article/index_html