He was speaking in relation to the drop in allocations for medical consumables in this year’s budget, which remained largely unchanged in Budget 2018 as well.
“The government will try to use as much generic medicine as we can. We use up to 58% of generic medicine now. The rest is innovator medicine or original medicine.”
Adding that there were three classes of medicine bought from overseas, Hilmi said the government only bought medication that it had checked first.
“The government assures that the medicine it buys is good and is tested, and not just bought on a whim,” he said during the question-and-answer session.
G Manivannan (PKR-Kapar) had asked about generic medication being given to patients at government hospitals despite warnings by some doctors who said such medicine might give rise to side effects.
Hilmi’s remarks also followed a report by FMT which quoted various sources as linking the decrease in funds to a shortage of medication and a lack of reagents for tests run at government hospitals.
Speaking today, the deputy minister acknowledged patient complaints on the drop in medication dispensed at hospitals but said this was to cut down on wastage.
“It is true that we used to dispense up to three months’ worth of medication to patients, and we have now reduced that to one month’s worth to curb wastage.
“There is a lot of wastage in medicine among patients. For example, people who live in Balik Pulau but travel to Kapar might go and ask for additional medicine,” he said.
He added however that generic medication was safe for use.
“There is no issue of the government risking anything by reducing the quality of medicine as all this medicine is checked before it is purchased.
“The pharmacies ensure that any medicine that enters Malaysia must be researched first, and we will look at all present records and study them. Our standard is 245 working days before it can enter the country.
“The quality of medicine sold in Malaysia must be guaranteed, and safety is guaranteed as well.”
Hilmi also listed initiatives taken by the government to ensure the fair pricing of medicine in the country.
He said these included price monitoring and the provision of price lists for consumer reference on pharmacy websites.
“We have taken note that out of 244 kinds of medicine, prices for 83 have gone up and 131 have gone down,” he added.