Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia takes note of the article reported by The Star titled “Generic drugs make up 58% of public hospital supply”, which was published on 1st November 2017 regarding the reused of returned medicines by other patients. Here, the Ministry of Health would like to make the following clarifications:

1. The Ministry of Health encourages patients to return their medicines which were not used or had expired. However, the returned medication will not be reused on other patients. As a matter of fact, the returned medicines will be disposed in a proper and friendly manner to avoid damaging the environment.
2. The MOH has introduced a program that advises patients to bring their medicines to the hospital when they see a doctor or be admitted to the ward. If the patient is prescribed with same medicines, their own medicines will be reused. On the other hand, if patient’s existing balance is insufficient until the next visit, additional quantity of medicines will be supplied. This program has shown approximately RM 106,394.00 worth of savings in medicine expenditure following a three-month study in a single ward from 40 hospitals that adopted this program.

The MOH urges all relevant parties to be responsible in further reporting, as inaccurate information can lead to misunderstanding among the public on MOH services. The MOH shall continue to provide quality services to all patients, regardless of their background.

 Thank you.

DATUK DR. NOOR HISHAM ABDULLAH
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH MALAYSIA 

6^th November 2017

Click for: Guideline on Return Medicine Program