Pharmacies need to be regulated

Title : Pharmacies need to be regulated
Date : 11 January 2006
From : The Star

I REFER to the letter, “Give pharmacists dispensing rights” (The Star, Jan 7).
The ramifications of pharmacists having sole dispensing rights are important. Ideally, prescribing and dispensing are best kept separate, but we do not live in an ideal world.
The situation in Malaysia is not like in Britain where pharmacists are well-regulated, and adequate laws exist to protect the public – they cannot sell potentially dangerous drugs without a doctor's prescription.

In Malaysia, patients can easily obtain many potentially dangerous drugs such as antibiotics and steroids without a doctor's prescription from many pharmacies.
This is partly due to poor regulation of the pharmaceutical profession and partly to the ignorance of the public. They need to realise that the pharmacist is not the first person to seek advice from for diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Here is a real-life example: In trying to save the cost of medical consultation, patient X goes to the pharmacy and asks for a cream for an itchy skin rash.
He does not mention – out of modesty – and is not asked where the rash is (it is in the groin). He is sold a potent steroid cream, which makes the rash much worse.
When seen in the clinic, he is found to have a severe groin rash due to ringworm that has been aggravated by wrong treatment.
The diagnosis was wrong, and hence the treatment made things worse.

If and when pharmacists have sole dispensing rights, many Malaysians will do what patient X did: seek medical help from a pharmacist first, because there is no consultation fee.
Pharmacists are not trained nor qualified to diagnose and treat disease.
Diagnosis requires a thorough patient interview and a thorough physical examination.
Correct treatment can only take place after accurate diagnosis.
When patients shop around, are sold strong medications from different pharmacies without a prescription and take them in wrong combinations unsupervised, there is a risk of dangerous – even fatal – drug interactions.

CONCERNED DOCTOR,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tuesday January 10, 2006

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This is the response from the MPS (Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society)


It is always the same complaint by doctors against pharmacies. They will mention
1. Pharmacy are not regulated
2. Pharmacy sell medicines without doctor prescription
3. Pharmacist in Malaysia are not trained like those overseas4. There is lack of enforcement in regulating pharmacy.

All the above are untrue as general statements and the Society had refuted these many times in the papers and yet some one will come along writing the same thing as if he knows the whole situation and offer tunnel-vision advice based on out-dated and bias outlook.
On the doctor side they will say:
1. doctors are trained for diagnosis
2. doctors know about drugs

It is noticed that it is always the individual doctor that writes on this issue. The MMA is quiet. On the other hand the MPS had to come up and respond to the issues raised. Is there not any pharmacist out there who are passionate and concern enough about the profession to put forward a reply ?
There is one area which doctors can claim to be better than pharmacist and there is no argument about it - They complain better and they complain more.