Frustrated doctors walk out from Pharmacy Bill briefing

Medical Practitioners Coalition Association of Malaysia (MPCAM) Vice President Dr Peter Chan said some 40 doctors from various groups including Malaysian Medication Association (MMA) and Malaysia Medical Council (MMC) walk out during a meeting which lasted less than half an hour.

“The meeting started at 9.10am and was chaired by Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Services Office, Datuk Eisah A. Rahman. She informed the doctors what was going on and wanted our feedback. She gave us a month to provide our feedback on the Bill.

“One of the MMC member stood up and asked if the group could take home the proposed bill to study it in order to provide quality feedback. But, we were told it could not be done because as it is with the Attorney-General Chambers and is classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA),” said Dr Chan, when contacted by Astro AWANI.

He added those present were not happy as they could saw only the heading of the Bill and not its details.

This led to the doctors walk-out from the meeting.

“We felt left out. We are the main stakeholders. This (the bill) was done very fast and without consulting the doctors.

“We just want more transparency. We want to be part of the drafting of the bill. We want to have some say as ultimately it will affect the whole medical industry,” he said.

Under the new Bill, there is a proposal to separate the functions of pharmacies and clinics in the country.

When asked to comment on this proposal, Dr Chan said he would prefer to see the fine print of the bill before giving any comments on the proposal.

“We want to review it first and see it word by word,” he said.

In a joint statement issued by several medical associations including MMA and MPCAM on Wednesday, some of the concerns are that there will be provisions in the Bill that will deny the patients’ choice and preference on where to obtain medicines, increase cost of patient care, and inconvenience patient by impeding access of patients to medications by asking patients to fill their prescription at the pharmacy instead of getting it from doctors directly and quickly.

On February 25, Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam said that the new Pharmacy Bill is under review with discussions being held with various parties following debates on the issue of dispensing separation.

“The issues of concern which are still being studied under the new Bill include options for the dispensing of medicines by both pharmacists and medical practitioners,” said Subramaniam in a statement to the media.

He also added that several other discussions will also take place this month.

"Discussions with the other doctor groups have been scheduled on March 4 (Wednesday), consumer group on second week of March, other ministries and government agencies on the third week, Pharmacy Associations and academia the fourth week of March and a Town hall briefing date to be fixed in April, 2015,” he said.