KUCHING: An opposition MP has called for greater urgency in ensuring all healthcare facilities in Sarawak as well as other states have sufficient medication to treat patients, especially children.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said the Ministry of Health must therefore step in immediately to safeguard the medical security of the country.
He made the call after getting reports from a Paediatric Specialist Clinic in Miri that it was unable to treat children with asthma, common fever, cough and cold.
According to Dr Yii, the doctor there had informed a week ago that all of his medications from either his supplier or the local pharmacy are already out of stock — the first time he is facing a medicine shortage in three decades of operating his clinic.
“According to the doctor, he has run out of ventolin nebules and ventolin solutions to treat asthma for more than two weeks, and based on the report, many other paediatric GPs are facing the same issue and even our Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian has confirmed that some private clinics in the city of Miri have already stopped seeing patients after their medicine supplies ran out.
“This is a serious medical predicament or even possibly a crisis if not dealt with immediately as our patients will continue to suffer and in a worst-case scenario may lead up to unwanted consequences as some of these conditions are life-threatening if the patients are unable to obtain the necessary medications immediately,” he pointed out.
He, therefore, urged MoH to urgently interfere in this matter to protect the medical security of the country following the disruption of medicine supplies all around the country.
“The seriousness of the issue was first downplayed by the Deputy Health Minister but confirmed by the Health Minister himself who admitted that there is a shortage of medicines, especially in the private sector. This is a serious issue which deserves immediate attention,” he said.
Dr Yii, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Health, Science and Innovation, said in the short term, MoH must do an extensive audit and stock count of all pharmaceutical stocks in both public and private health facilities to understand the full extent of the country’s medicine shortage.
“Such supplies should then be properly distributed nationwide based on needs like a ring strategy to ensure areas of highest needs will get the needed supplies,” he said.
He added a private-public sharing mechanism to cut all necessary bureaucracy should be developed since the Minister mentioned that medication in the public sector of government clinics are sufficient, and there could be a mechanism where the public facilities can either sell or loan drug supplies to fill in gaps in the private sector until they receive their supplies.
“Maybe for certain critical medications, there could be a mechanism where private healthcare professionals can write prescription for essential medication which patients can immediately claim or even purchase at a government pharmacy without going through the whole referral process and consultation process at government clinics to cut down congestion in those clinics.
“In order for this happen, a genetic type of prescription pad and prescription format must only be used to regulate it properly to enable the public sector to accept prescriptions from the private sector. On top of that, after the extensive audit of medical stocks, there should be a system to see where the stocks are available and list down the places so they know where to refer patients to,” he said.
He said this is no ordinary medicine shortage, thus immediate action has to be taken.
“That is why since the beginning I have urged MpH for a clear policy to address the current shortage of medicines on top of a longer-term national medicine security strategy to be devised to prevent future drug shortages in Malaysia, given the country’s current vulnerable position as a net importer of pharmaceutical products.
“Do not let our patients including our children suffer especially when there is no pro-active measure to foresee this issue and properly implement a mechanism and plan to address it holistically, said Dr Yii.
