‘Have a more patient-friendly medication collection system’
SIBU: Early-bird patients obtaining their monthly medication recently resorted to lining their medical record books along the floor leading to the pharmacy’s entrance at Oya Road Polyclinic here.
The scene, captured in a viral social media post on Monday, took place before 8am as many, especially the elderly, could not physically stand in line to wait for the pharmacy to open.
When contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday, a staffer there confirmed the authenticity of the post, but said the polyclinic had, from yesterday, utilised a dropbox for patients coming before 8am to drop their record books.
“It is not a new system ( lining up of records by patients). It is just that they (patients) do not want to stand and wait. They line up their books there so that they don’t miss the queue.
“But that is causing a lot of problem for other people, particularly as space inside the clinic is already limited. When they line up their books on the floor, people have to step over their books,” she said,
“This happened since the government started the monthly collection of medication. Patients have to come more often to clinics to collect medication.
“It (lining of books on the floor) happens on some days. Patients, especially the elderly, could not stand up for a very long time.”
She believed that a similar scenario also played out in other clinics and not just the Oya Road Polyclinic.
Towards this end, she figured that the latest arrangement (drop box) would not resolve the problem.
“Nonetheless, making use of the box is definitely better than laying the books across the floor,” she said.
The staffer recalled during the recent visit of Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health Dr Annuar Rapaee to the polyclinic, several options had been discussed to ease the congestion at the polyclinic.
Among them were to get patients to take collect their medication from 1Malaysia Clinic (K1M) and utilising UMP (‘ Ubat Melalui Post), where patients only have to pay RM5 per home delivery of medication.
Meanwhile, an observation at the polyclinic here around 6.55am yesterday noted patients dropping their record books into the box.
Ah Chong, 64, a patient hailing from Rumah Beriak in Sungai Naman, welcomed the latest arrangement.
“They should have come up with such a system earlier,” he said.
Another patient, 57-year- old farmer Matkala Kalang, said he always accompanied his wife to the polyclinic once a month to collect her medication.
“If I am free, the earliest I will arrive here is around 7am. When the pharmacy opens at 8am, I still end up having to wait for another two hours or so,” he said.
A woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she had to apply for a half-day’s leave once a month just to collect her medication.
“I don’t have any choice because usually I would be stuck at the polyclinic the whole morning just to collect my medication,” she said.
It is not a new system (lining up of records by patients). It is just that they (patients) do not want to stand and wait. They line up their books there so that they don’t miss the queue. Oya Road Polyclinic staff