first of all, we need to know, who have the right to dispense drugs?

i think dispensing drugs requires both clinical and pharmacological knowledge.
pharmacist now a days are lack of clinical knowledge, if pharmacist are given right to dispense drugs independantly, i'll be very worry about it.

in western countries, doctor give prescriptions and patients will need to buy their own drugs from pharmacy.
if you're talking about this fact, yes i agree, coz somehow, some GP are over charged...
if fact, most of the hospital are running this system, doctor just give the prescription, you get the drugs yourself.
in our country, previously, there've been inadequate pharmacist in our country, thus doctors are doing both of the jobs. ever since, it has become part of the source of income for them.

stripping their dispensing right is equal to cut their wages...doctors sure bising...

however, giving pharmacist to dispense drugs independantly would be a bit risky...i just worry later on they will act like a doctor, diagnosing patients and prescribe drugs without adequate clinical knowledge.

the last and most important point i want to mention is about the conveniency of patient. it would be much more easier if the patient can get the drugs and get back home straight away instead of wasting more time to travel to another area to get drugs. (especially in rural area)

think about the time to spend, travel cost...letting the patient go with a piece of prescription...hmmm...

Oh ya, how about those taking chemistry degree? Wouldn't their chemistry be better than the pharmacists? Then should we give them dispensing right also?

If you wanna argue, pls back your statement with valid reasons.

And again, you didn't read my post properly , i did mentioned many times that docs dun have extensive pharmacology knowledge, but sufficient to ensure patient's safety. 

So are you saying Klang Valley has enough pharmacists? Prove your statement, or at least tell us what you actually deduce that from.
I told you before, the reason i think pharmacists in KV are insufficient based on the fact that there are only 4000+ pharmacists in the whole country, both private and gov. There's no way all of them are in KV. Think boy.

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Added on December 18, 2008, 10:47 pm
You know the meaning of sufficient?? Look up dictionary. Noobs nowadays. 

At least in UK, there are much more pharmacists than in Msia. So what if they are not locals? They are working there no?
Read the previous posts if you wanna debate.
There's extreme shortage in Msia.
Whether or not docs will give it back when the number is sufficient, i dunnoe. But i for one agree to give them the dispensing right when the time comes.

just pass the law already... then we will see a "BOOM" in pharmacist population in Malaysia.

Besides, i think a major influence for ppl to go for MD/MBBS lies in part due to the $$$ factor that they will earn in the future.

I would like to see what happens when this trend happens to pharmacy programs when the law regarding this matter is amended.

Then probably we will have good ration of doctors : Pharmacists.

So in the same way, we must have more than sufficient number of pharmacists before we give them the dispensing right. Dun you think so?
Btw, you know the meaning of sufficient?

I think you are not a Malaysian to say that. In Malaysia, patient get medicine from doctor, or rather from the school leaver at the medicine counter. No choice.

May be you want to give me an answer as to why we Malaysian can't have the best? Personally, I can't think of other more valid reason.

eh.......actually they do have a choice, even now........they can ask for a scrip and go buy at any pharmacy.....and some do, especially when prescribed from specialists in hospitals (generally they do not dispense so no skin off their nose)......

the thing is, if they do that in the usual gp consult, they quickly realised it cost more separating the two, so they are quite willing to take the medicine from the clinic.......convenient as well.......

Good saying.   
So if doctors have sufficient pharmacology knowledge, that's not enough for you? In the same way, do you agree to hand pharmacists the dispensing right if their number is only SUFFICIENT?
Because they wanna earn more ma. They jealous doctors earn more than them ma.
The same lousy doctors are trained in med schools which have pharmacy course. So the pharmacists are lousy also.

And as the table shown, about 50% of pharmacists are concentrated in Selangor and FT. So if the trial in KV is a success, how about pharmacists in other areas? More pharmacists will flock into KV if dispensing right is given in KV only. At the same time. other areas will have no more pharmacists liao. So what's the point of having the trial?

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Added on December 19, 2008, 12:10 pm
Their lively hood is not affected at all, as dispensing right is not exclusively doctors'.

BTw, a suggestion to moderator. IF possible, pls move this thread to RWI. It deserves more intelligent inputs from regulars of RWI, instead of some people here posting invalid reasons and going round and round the points we have discussed many many times.