Proposed Dispensing Separation In Malaysia (The Pharmacy Bill) Poem by Daya Nandan

Allowing only pharmacists to dispense medication is a bad idea,
For we are not ready like America, Japan as well as Korea,
We do not have many pharmacy stores that work 24 hours a day,
Most operate till 10 pm and close on every public holiday,

What if a man risks dying at one am in the morning,
Rushed to the nearest clinic with his children mourning,
The doctors prescribe the most suitable drugs to treat the man,
But the pharmacy stores are closed so he meets his end,

Then there is the issue of a higher overall cost of healthcare,
Fees of two professionals are costs the people will have to bare,
Then like Indonesia a lot will go directly to pharmacy stores,
Symptomatic treatment without treating the cause behind the sores,

Many freely give drugs that are only to be given with prescription,
In the name of profit which causes problems in the nation,
Masking symptoms while the root of the problem keeps growing,
Specific signs to diagnose a serious disease will not be showing,

More work and tests for the doctors to perform when you go to them,
All of this because patients were too careless to give a damn,
Hypertension cannot be treated with any random hypertensive drug,
Factors like kidney and liver function can't swept under the rug,

It is not easy to diagnose diseases with a specific fever pattern,
When the patients mask it to cool down the fever's burn,
Dengue fever, typhoid fever and malaria are just a few examples,
Why conduct a major change without first looking at the samples,

Doctors in South Korea went on a national strike,
And ended up giving their consultation fees an extra hike,
Overall cost of healthcare sharply rose just like in USA,
Not something i want to see in our developing country today,

Wrong antibiotics given can cause resistant virus and bacteria,
An extremely common problem i have faced everyday in Indonesia,
I believe this bill is a bad idea and we should close our doors,
For our rural areas simply lack too many pharmaceutical stores,

Malaysia is too poorly prepared for such a bill to be passed,
That my answer every single time when my opinion is asked,
Unless we can effectively tackle all the problems above,
Only then will the bill not harm the Malaysians we know and love.