Proposed law a boon to pharmacy education

It’s high time to separate prescribing and dispensing functions, says the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society.

PETALING JAYA: A law that gives pharmacists the exclusive right to dispense medication is long overdue and would at last justify the millions of ringgit the government spends on pharmacy education, according to Nancy Ho, president of the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS).

Welcoming recent reports that the government was considering such a law, she said local pharmacy graduates had for too long been deprived of practicing the profession they were trained in.

Malaysia’s universities produce about 1,000 pharmacists every year but they are not able to utilise their expertise fully because patients normally get their medication from the prescribing doctors.

“Most of our pharmacists end up selling selling cosmetics, personal care products and other consumer goods,” Ho said.

Retired pharmacist Hoe Kek Fei agrees, saying local universities might as well close their pharmacy schools if the government were to give in to pressure groups that are against the introduction of a law separating the prescribing and dispensing functions in health care.

“If pharmacists are denied what is universally deemed to be their basic function, then why should the country be educating so many bright and young individuals, given that the total annual cost runs into the millions?” she said.

Hoe also complained that pharmacists were restricted by more regulations than were doctors while making much less money.

She called for more pharmacists to participate in press debates on the issue.