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
___________________________________________________________________
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.
Saw this on The Star yesterday...
I m really interested.....dunno if i can come out with something nice for this or not...hehehe.....
I am back here again....i guess its almost a month or more since my last post....its holiday...so its time to change the blog template...hahaha....this time i wan it to be black....do tell me how you guys think about it....and if can give some suggestion on what picture should i put on the banner on top.....i m cracking my head about it......
18th October 2005 made a mark in my life…I was trilled when my sister sms me that I’ve received a letter at home…I guess what I’ve been waiting for the pass few week is finally here…she then called me after a while and told me that my scholarship application has been ACCEPTED!! My mind was blank…I don’t know who to thank and who I should share this news with…frankly speaking…I am not happy or excited…but I m relieve…really relieved…finally I can help loosen my father’s burden…I quickly sms few of my close friends and share the news with them… Even though, the amount that I am receiving is not much…but I am really grateful…It will definitely help me…Thanks to God…thanks to all those that have supported me during my ‘down’ time in 2003… Kai Shing and Kai Ling…Mrs Cheng…Thanks to all my friends now…Min Choo and all those that cared about me….
Last night I couldn’t sleep…a lot of things comes into my mind…all those that I’ve gone through from my primary school till now…the ups and downs….since young I’ve been studying hard and dream about getting a scholarship to finance my education…that’s my dream…frankly speaking getting good results I not my dreams…what I want is something more practical that can help me and my family…you could say that I m money-minded but that’s how life goes…I’ve been through it…I’ve feel it…and I know…seeing people with poorer results and better financial condition succeed in getting scholarship is indeed gives me lots of pain…I’ve failed few times but I guess I just never gave up…Finally after going through so much…my dream came true…I guess yesterday I finally succeed in my life…for once…I succeed!!
For those who wanna access to IMU I-Drive..you can do that using the following link...just key in your student ID and password.
https://ictservices.imu.edu.my/NetStorage/
Happy Holiday and Happy Studying!
We went to Kai Shing House on the 9th of October for house warming...we ate, drank and sing some songs....everything was pretty normal until Alan got in to a state of euphoria.
Euphoria is a feeling of great happiness or well-being, commonly exaggerated and not necessarily well founded. It is usually assosiated with use of drug abuse...hahaha...which in Alan case i think it is due to excessive alcohol abuse.
At first he was seen resting and kinda bored after taking a heavy lunch.
After a while, he started to sing...
He starts to put in more and more emotion.
After tired of singing and drinking...he got tired...and he sits quietly on a nice comfortable chair.
Suddenly, he starts to make some noice.....
He starts to laugh!!
and laugh!!..non-stop!
After about 15 minutes of non-stop laughing...he finally stops....you can be sure when you see the satisfaction on his face......
IMU Cup '05 closing ceremony
The crowd and the banner.
The Violets!
Semester 1 is performing
Semester 5 performance...they got first!suppository..suppository and suppository....had been hearing this word very very often lately...we had a lad for it which last for hours...we had workshop on it...and again another lab in the pharmaceutics module...this lab is more promising...we manage to produce some hard and nice suppositories........
Minying, Chia Chai and Yee Yin with their wonderful product
The one that i made it myself!
Some example of the marketed product...not bad as compared to mine...i m just too good! =p
Been having tests for the past few week...tired and bored...fortunately its going to end soon...semester going to end and guess what...the study break is approching...that's even worst....but i guess..no matter what.....life goes on...right?
Recently i visited this web site http://www.colorgenics.com/sps/. Its a test of your mood based on colours...this is what i get:You are trying to prove to others that nothing can really affect you. You are pretending to be stoical - indifferent to pain or pleasure and indeed even superior to any form of weakness. As a result, more often than not, you unfortunately act with undue harshness or severity by adopting an autocratic and self-willed attitude.
You are experiencing considerable difficulty trying to achieve your goals. As a consequence of this you are becoming more and more irritable. Your friends and acquaintances are finding it increasingly more difficult to appease or to reason with you. You are the cause of your own problems. Don't be so impulsive. It is your vacillation that can lead to problems and uncertainties. Ease up a little.
You are a rather inhibited sort of person. This could be the result of your upbringing or of your schooling, whatever. You are able to obtain satisfaction from various forms of physical or emotional activity but all in all you are inclined to be emotionally withdrawn. As a consequence of this you find it difficult to sustain any deep involvement.
Recent disappointment has led you to become truly introverted. You are becoming suspicious of everybody and consequently you now feel that you are unable to trust anybody. Unfortunately it would appear that you are curbing your natural enthusiasm and imaginative nature - perhaps this is because you are fearful that you may become over enthused and find that you could possibly be carried away by wishful thinking. You are keeping your distance to see whether attitudes towards you are sincere - but this watchfulness could easily develop into suspicion and distrust.
You are being very dogmatic, insisting that there is to be absolutely no equivocation whatsoever about your achievements and accomplishments.
I guess i am not in a very good mood...i would say its quite true...
so....what colour are you?
Yesterday I went to watch this movie, "Cinderella Man" in One Utama....this movie is based on a true story and it is certainly a movie that everyone should watch...It is a movie that one will clap right at the end of the movie......
In the middle of the Great Depression, when an America in the grips of a devastating economic downturn was nearly brought to its knees, there came along a most unlikely hero who had crowds cheering on their feet-as he proved just how hard a man would fight to win a second chance for his family and himself.
That common-man hero was James J. Braddock-a.k.a. the "Cinderella Man"-who was to become one of the most surprising and inspirational sports legends in history. By the early 1930s, the impoverished ex-prizefighter was seemingly as broken-down, beaten-up and out-of-luck as much of the rest of the American populace.
Like so many others, Braddock had hit rock bottom. His career appeared to be finished, he was unable to pay the bills, the only thing that really mattered to him-his family-was in danger, and he was even forced to go on Public Relief. But deep inside, Jim Braddock never relinquished his determination. Driven by love, honor and an incredible dose of grit, he willed an impossible dream to come true.
In a last-chance bid to help his family, Braddock returned to the ring. No one thought he had a shot. In bout after bout, the talk was that poor Jim Braddock was criminally out-matched and perilously in over his head. Except that Braddock, fueled by something beyond mere competition, kept winning.
Suddenly, the ordinary working man who couldn't get a job became the mythic athlete who could not lose. Carrying the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised on his shoulders, Braddock rocketed through the ranks, until this underdog who defied all the odds chose to do the unthinkable: take on the heavyweight champ of the world, the unstoppable Max Baer, renowned for having killed two men in the ring.
Sysnopsis and Pictures are from http://www.cinderellamanmovie.com
A picture of the real James J. Braddock
Its Google 7th Birthday....some of us use it almost everyday...for some people most of the information in portfolio, PBLs and practicals reports are from google search....reliable? but i guess its a much easier way to do works.....emergence of various search engine defeniately make our life much easier.....
Some shots that i took during the female volleyball game against sem 3. Proud to say that pharmacy won that game...hehe.....
Pharmacy! Go! Go! Go!
I like the blur effect...haha...but i guess its because my hands are shaking.
Handshaking after the match.
The volleyball team!
Victory!!
The basketball team picture
Picture with some of the supporters.
