Pharmacy Bill: Declassify documents and consult stakeholders, MMA tells govt

Rejecting the new Pharmacy Bill, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) said the medical fraternity was not consulted on the separation of dispensing and prescription rights.

Its president Dr H. Krishna Kumar said the government did not allow the association to view documents pertaining to the matter, claiming it to be classified.

He said the MMA, the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) and several medical organisations had met the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Pharmacy Services Division on the matter.

“We requested for the official documents planned for the Pharmacy Bill but was rejected by the Pharmacy Services Division as it was classified as a document in the Official Secrets Act,” he said in a press statement today.

“As none of the medical associations were consulted before the documents were submitted and none had the look of the document, we were unable to comment on it and therefore oppose its implementation,” he said.

“We hope that the government can declassify the document and let all stakeholders be consulted before such documents are considered to be passed by the Parliament,” he said.

He also expressed hope that the government and the association will be able to work together for the better of the nation.

On Feb 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.

Meanwhile, a briefing on the proposed Bill with the MOH on Wednesday morning ended with a walk-out by several doctors after the latter was not provided with the fine print of the Bill.

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

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.