Malpractices Alleged at 1Malaysia Clinics
J-on
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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Penang, Mar 22 - A medical practitioner has criticised newly formed 1Malaysia clinics set up by the Ministry of Health for providing poor quality of medical services to patients, which include wrong prescription of medicines and wrong diagnoses.
Dr T Jayabalan, who represents workers and the Malaysian Trade Union Council, claimed that a recent study he conducted in Kampar, Perak revealed that medical assistants in government clinics have been issuing wrong prescriptions to patients.
He cautioned that the clinics, brainchild of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak (right) which aimed to provide access to healthcare for all Malaysians nationwide, may also be affected by these malpractices as all of them are manned by medical assistants and nurses.
"This seems to be common practice among medical assistants. They are giving out prescriptions for the wrong medicines, or prescribing medicines which they are not allowed to prescribe. They have also been found to have wrongfully diagnosed patients," said Jayabalan, who is also health adviser to the Consumers Association of Penang.
Though he called setting up the clinics "laudable", he said that the public now want quality instead of just 'good' access to healthcare.
Jayabalan said he was appalled that the 44 clinics, launched in January, targeting the urban poor, and charging merely RM1 for its facilities, were not set up in a transparent manner as doctors were caught unawares by the project.
Currently, there are 10 1Malaysia clinics in the Klang Valley, five each in Penang and Johor, four each in Perak, Sabah and Sarawak, two in Kedah, one in Perlis and three each in the rest of the states.
Source: Malaysiakini
