TODAYONLINE 9 Oct 2006 

Give those with chronic diseases more freedom to choose where to buy medicine

IN THE report, “Diabetics’ care on new road” (Oct 2, 2006), it was described that a new era of chronic disease management had begun.  The healthcare financing framework has been tweaked to facilitate more involvement by the general practitioners in the management of patients with chronic diseases.

The expert from the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, USA, highlighted some challenges in the system, which may ultimately derail the efforts to make healthcare affordable and improve outcomes for patients.

Under our current system, physicians who diagnose also dispense drugs. This could put neutrality and objectivity secondary to business interests where there is hardly any incentive for GPs to use generics or cheaper drugs. Patients with chronic diseases may then be saddled with huge drug bills, which may become a financial burden. It is very true that adherence to the drug treatment is significantly affected by drug cost and pricing, especially when patients need long-term treatment.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore shares the same concerns. In order to promote cost effective chronic disease management, patients must be empowered to exercise their freedom to choose where they want to purchase their medications. Therefore, we recommend that all patients must be given a prescription for them to choose where they like to have it filled, either in the clinic, pharmacy or hospital.

Greater transparency of prices for services and products would also be necessary. While we applaud the steps taken to change the delivery of care, we urge the Ministry of Health to introduce pragmatic measures to minimise commercial bias in prescribing drugs, which patients with chronic diseases need to consume on a daily basis.

by

NG CHENG TIANG
President PSS

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