BOOK REIEW
MALAYSIAN STATISTICS ON MEDICINE 2004
Editors: Sarojini Sivanandam, Lim Teik Onn
Publisher: Pharmaceutical Services Division and the Clinical Research Centre, Ministry of Health Malaysia
Year of publication: 2006
ISSN: 1823-8300
The Statistics On Medicine 2004 is the first report of the National Medicines Use Survey (NMUS), an ambitious project of the Ministry of Health (MOH) to collect information on the supply, procurement, prescription, dispensing and use of drugs in Malaysia. The current report is based on data collected from hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in both the public and private sectors. For the first time, the quantity and type of commonly used medicines in Malaysia (excluding over-the-counter drugs) is now available. The information helps to quantify the healthcare expenditure attributed to drugs, and through the use of DDD (Defined Daily Dose per 1000 inhabitants per day), allow international comparisons of the drug utlisation data with our neighbouring countries.
It is gratifying to note that 101 public primary care clinics (Klinik Kesihatan) and 188 private clinics contributed prescribing data to the NMUS. Their contribution to this survey is a support for the proposed National Medicines Policy.
Reviewed by: Dr Leong Kwok Chi, Klinik Leong, Kuala Lumpur. Email: leongk@pc.jaring.my.
Editor’s note: Dr Leong is member of the NMUS Expert Panel on Pharmaco-economics.