KUCHING: Government pharmacists in Sarawak and Sabah can dispense more medication to rural folk who come for their appointments in urban clinics, said state Health Department director, Dr Jamilah Hashim yesterday.
“But the rural folk must be interviewed in detail by the pharmacists first; they cannot simply claim they are from rural areas and need more medication,” she pointed out while officiating at a pharmacist conference here.
Jamilah said rural dwellers who came for appointments in urban clinics had spent a lot on their journeys to the towns.
She also stressed that the government and private health sector must ensure that the medicines received by the patients were effective and safe to consume.
Jamilah said in the past, pharmacists were more focused on compounding and dispensing medicines at the counter.
“But with today’s technological developments, most medicines are produced and commercialised by pharmaceutical companies in different types of doses,” she explained.
Jamilah added with the introduction of Value-Added Services (VAS), patients now had the option of either getting their prescription medication from the pharmacists at the counter or waiting for the medicine to be sent to their homes or offices.
Jamilah said she was very happy with the achievements of those involved in the pharmaceutical services in the state.
She noted that the government pharmacists had conducted community awareness programmes such as “Your Medicines Ambassador Programme” where pharmacists, accompanied by medical officers and nurses, would visit patients’ homes to share knowledge about the medicines that they had been prescribed.
“Through such programmes, the pharmacists can evaluate the patients’ compliance with their medicines and identify issues related to the pharmaceutical care issues,” she added.
The conference, held yesterday and today, enables pharmacists to hear presentations by speakers from various backgrounds.
Also present at the opening ceremony yesterday were the director of Pharmaceutical Division of Practice and Development, Health Ministry of Malaysia, Dr Roshayati Mohamad Sani, director of Pharmaceutical Enforcement Division, Health Ministry of Malaysia, Tan Ann Ling and head of Sarawak Pharmacy Enforcement Department Benodict Talin.
