"Instead of getting their medicine from private clinics, patients will have to obtain it from pharmacies if the Health Ministry accepts the proposed “Doctors diagnose, pharmacists dispense” system."
The debate has been going on for quite some time. Should pharmacists who have arguably more knowledge and skills in various aspects of pharmacology, be given the sole right to dispense medication to patients?
In my opinion, if the proposed “Doctors diagnose, pharmacists dispense” system is implemented, there will be some immediate foreseeable changes to the country's medical system.
1. Medications will be available to the public at a cheaper cost.
How much cheaper? No idea, as this cannot be accurately predicted. With the introduction of the system, thousands of pharmacy stores will begin to mushroom across Malaysia, and its either stiff competition driving the prices of medication down even further, or the sudden surge of demand for medication driving the prices up. But it is known that private GPs tend to charge patients more for the medication alone, so the introduction of the system should make medicines more affordable.
2. On the other hand, consultation fees from your local clinic GP will go up!
In the current system, local GPs earn by charging consultation fees AND selling medications. The profit earned from selling medicine can account for up to half of the doctor's income. If the new system is implemented, do you think that private GPs all over malaysia will sit back and enjoy their paycut? Definitely not. Whine all you want my poor patients, complain to the government, write letters to the newspaper, I have loans to pay, mouths to feed, says the private clinic doctor.
3. "Some" inconvenience to the patient
If there is a pharmacy located just next to the clinic, wonderful! Patients will have no trouble walking a few extra steps to obtain the medication.
If the nearest pharmacy is situated across a busy street, yeah there may be some inconvenience, but should be still alright.
In the setting of a rural area, where there are only one or two private clinics and one or two pharmacies, the distance between the clinic and the pharmacy can be quite far, and patients will have to drive from one place to another to obtain medicine.
That being said, under the new system, doctors and pharmacists will be forced to partner up and open their business close to if not next to each other. Those who choose to go solo, doctors or pharmacists alike, risk losing potential customers in the long run.
4. Full potential of pharmacists goes untapped
In an ideal situation, doctors and pharmacists work as a team. Doctors prescribe and pharmacists counter check by reviewing the entire medication record for interactions, drugs with duplicating effects, advise patients on side effects of the various medication, answer patients' questions regarding the drugs, and advise doctors on choices of medication depending on their cost and potency.
However, reality the way I see it is that if the new system is introduced abruptly, doctors and pharmacists who own separate business will work independently with little communication and teamwork.
Pharmacists cannot check for drug interactions even if they want to because they do not have the patient's medication records and history in hand.
How many pharmacists would pick up the phone and asks the doctor for a change in prescription because there is a cheaper drug in the market with the same effect? Will the doctor feel insulted if he/she is "questioned" regarding his/her choice of drug?
And how many pharmacists would be ready to share the legal burden with the doctors if problem arises such as a dangerous side effect of a drug goes unexplained to the patient?
My point is that if there is no close team work between doctors and pharmacists, any true benefits of the new system will be hard to achieve, and instead we will be getting a lot pointing fingers, frustration, and distrust across both groups of medical professionals.
No comments:
Post a Comment