Dr Sim (second right) talks to one of the patients at the polyclinic. At right is Dr Nordin.
KUCHING: The long wait for patients collecting regular medications at government clinic pharmacies here will be solved soon with the implementation of several measures.
Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said the state Health Department and Health Ministry officers had come up with several ways to alleviate the problem.
“Patients who collect medicine from this polyclinic pharmacy normally have three months’ supply but the change of policy of monthly medicine collection has caused long waiting for those who come just to collect it,” said Dr Sim after visiting the Batu Kawa Polyclinic pharmacy yesterday.
“The long waiting period was caused by the way the medicine are prescribed, which is part of measures taken by the Health Ministry to avoid wastage of medicine, less risk of medicine abuse and to maintain quality of the medicine.
“The new measure was introduced in October 2016, and following the announcement, an increase of 1,496 patients was recorded. This has led to the long waiting period,” he explained.
Dr Sim said among the measures to be implemented was for pharmacists to continue distributing medicine over the counter during their lunch break.
“At the same time, we will have more pharmacists from other clinics to assist here and a new counter specially for patients who come just to collect their medicines,” he said.
He added that patients could also collect their medicine at the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) 1Malaysia Clinic through prior arrangements.
“The government through the Health Ministry has also introduced the postage method where the medicines will be posted to the respective patients. This is a convenient option to patients,” he said.
Also present yesterday was state Health Department deputy director Dr Nordin Salleh.