We regret the inconvenience experienced by the patient but do allow us to elaborate on this issue.

Patients are supplied medications on a monthly basis for several reasons.

Firstly, it is to enable the pharmacist to monitor these patients in terms of compliance and/or occurrence of adverse reactions.

Secondly it is to ensure the quality of medicines used as not all patients keep their medicines in accordance with proper storage conditions and this will compromise the efficacy of these medications and safety of the patient.

Lastly, periodic supply of medications also helps to avoid wastage as patients do not always inform the pharmacy if they still have stock at home when they get their new prescriptions filled.

In addition to this, all medicines supplied from public health facilities are fully subsidised by the Government.

In order not to tie up Government funding with excessive stocks and also to avoid the issue of wastage, the norm for stock holding in Government hospitals and clinics is two months.

Hence, the policy to supply medicines on a monthly basis is not because the hospitals have insufficient stocks but it is an effort to practise good store management, maintaining the delicate balance between maximum stock (to avoid overstocking) and minimum stock (to avoid under-stocking) which is vital in these prudent times.

Facilities that frequently experience the issue of under-stocking will be looked into and advised to take effective corrective action to rectify the matter.

However, the Pharmaceutical Services Division has introduced several mechanisms to ease the medication collection process for patients on long-term therapy.

Patients can request to collect their repeat medications from facilities which are nearer their homes using the Sistem Pendispensan Ubat-Ubatan Bersepadu (SPUB) services offered at all government hospital and health clinic pharmacies.

Alternatively, patients can also opt to have their repeat medications posted to their homes on a regular basis.

This service is already being offered at major hospitals in all states and will be expanded to include other healthcare facilities based on the coverage offered by the postal service.

With this, we hope to overcome the woes of patients and care-givers who find it inconvenient to come to the Government hospitals and health clinics to collect their medications.

We would like to suggest that the patient concerned discuss with the respective pharmacist on the various medication collection options available through which he/she can collect his/her repeat medications.

DATUK EISAH A. RAHMAN,
Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Services,
Health Ministry.

First published by TheStar Online on 21st July 2011: Why medications given on monthly basis

Forced to make extra trips for medicine

I AM a diabetic patient and I write this letter because of the numerous times I have been asked to return to collect my medicine. This has been going on for about a year.

We diabetic patients are reviewed every three months and are given a three-month supply of medication. But each time we collect our medicine we are only given one month’s supply.

Therefore, we have to come back two more times to collect the medicine. This is very tedious and time wasting especially for those who stay far away from the hospital and have to take a bus or taxi.

Money is being drained out o our pockets unnecessarily during these bad economic times.

It is indeed terrible for those who are old and feeble, especially the pensioners.

Not only is the hospital short of medicine for diabetes but it also has no supply of simple tablets such as calcium.

DM PATIENT,
Port Dickson.

First published by TheStar Online on 16th July 2011: Forced to make extra trips for medicine

Melamine is an organic base which contains some 66% of nitrogen by mass. Melamine is use in producing durable thermosetting plastic and polymeric cleaning products. Some of the end products are glues, erase boards, counter tops, fabrics and flame retardants. It is also used in making high-resistance concrete and fertilizers.

Melamine derivatives of arsenical drugs are used in the treatment of African trypanosomiasis!

Due to it's high content of nitrogen, some manufacturers added melamine into milk and infant formula to fool the government in the protein content tests. With that, the protein content of the food will appear higher than the normal value.

When melamine is consumed, it can combine with cyanuric acid (which is permitted to be present in some non-protein nitrogen additives used in drinking water) can form insoluble melamine cyanurate, which could crystallize in the renal microtubules. It would damage the renal cells and in the end cause kidney failure. Other than that, it could also lead to reproductive damage, kidney and bladder stones.

In 22 September, nearly 53,000 people had become ill and almost 12,000 people hare hospitalized, affecting mostly babies and kids who consume these milk and infant formula products.