Development of medicines procurement indicators tool and evaluation of medicines procurement policy in Malaysian public hospitals / Nur Liyana Zainal Bahrin

Malaysian public hospitals medicines procurement is one of the core elements in Malaysia National Medicines Policy (MNMP). Medicines procurement is one of the underlying policies that influence medicines accessibility, availability and affordability to public and Ministry of Health's healthcare institutions. Astute medicines allocation and planning strategy are imperative as competent medicines procurement management services in tandem with changes in the population, cost and usage will ensure competent of medicines supply. However, there are limitations in the identification of medicines' procurement indicators based on their costs of performances which may be affecting medicines procurement policy. This study aimed to determine medicines procurement indicators trending profiles and developing Medicines Procurement Indicators Tool. This study was conducted in two phases, Phase I and Phase II using panel data and cross-sectional study design respectively. Phase I is conducted to determine trending profiles of medicines procurement based on data of 138 public hospitals in Malaysia from the year 2012-2014. The second phase of the study is to develop Medicines Procurement Indicators Tool. In Phase II, newly developed questionnaires were emailed to all respective pharmacists in 138 public hospitals in Malaysia. Questionnaires were validated and analysed using Pearson Chi-Square and Cochran's Q Test. In Phase I, the trending profiles for Special Medicines, URL and URUL recorded the highest purchase cost in 2012. While for RUL category, the highest cost purchase was in 2014. Medicines stock cycle recorded the highest value in 2012 while cost of medicines wastage and additional allocation received showed highest value in 2014. Types of products' trending profiles with the highest value recorded are Import Generics and Local Innovator purchasein 2014. Year 2012 recorded highest Local Generics purchase while Import Innovator showed highest value in 2013. In Phase II of the study, Pearson Chi-Square test performed has found out that all categories under Special Medicines Indicator were associated with types of hospitals in Malaysia with p<0.05. For Type of Products Indicators, Local Generic,Import Innovator and Generic over Innovator showed association with types of hospitals. Cochran's Q test performed has found out that Generics over Innovator and Special Medicines namely Medicines Stock Cycle and Additional Medicines Allocation are significantly different based on years of measurement (p<0.05). Based on the statistical analysis done, components with significant data were constructed into Medicines Procurement Indicator Tool. In conclusion, based on medicines procurement indicators trending profiles shown, it has indicated the need for government to strategies and empowering current policy on medicines procurement by implementing the use of Medicines Procurement Indicator Tool. This measure will provide benefits to stakeholders via accurate information on tool implementation as well as reducing wastage and workload

Discord in the Family Environment: Reviewing incidences of fratricide and sororicide in Malaysia

Family discords or quarrels are considered normal and ordinary. However, the level and intensity of the discords and disputes have led to incidences of fratricide and sororicide. In the case of fratricide (the killing of one’s brother) and sororicide (the killing of one’s sister), the escalating number of incidences as reported in the media requires proper intervention by the relevant parties. The aim of this paper is to review published articles on family discords and violence, particularly on incidences of fratricide and sororicide. The findings and implications of the findings will be discussed in this review paper.Keywords: fratricide; sororicide; discord; family environmentISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning &amp; Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

DO CURRENT AWARENESS AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM TOWARDS UNREGISTERED DRUGS EFFECTIVE FOR PUBLIC? PHARMACISTS' PERCEPTIVE

Objective: Awareness and educational programme are one of the solutions to reduce unregistered drugs usage. In Malaysia, an agency called Pharmaceutical Services Division (PSD) and Pharmacy Enforcement Division (PED) are highly active in yielding many awareness programmes throughout the country as well as in its website. The goal of this research was to explore the pharmacist views or perceptions on the current awareness and educational programme on registered drugs.Methods: These findings emerged from one-on-one semi-structured interview guided with sixteen pharmacists in Klang Valley who have represented the voice from the pharmacists throughout Malaysia.Results: Six themes identified: ‘Consumer utility', ‘low health literacy', ‘social and education influenced', ‘equitable access to information', ‘promotion' and ‘persistent'. These themes emphasise the current awareness to improve and provide the programme to everyone in Malaysia to get the same information regardless they're staying. Pharmacists also expressed their concern about the current consumer who only cares about their benefit such as fast effect; cheap and easy to get by ignoring the bad impact if they consume the unregistered products. The pharmacists also believed that the health literacy, the social and educational level also influenced the purchase behaviour amongst consumer.Conclusion: The findings indicate that the management of unregistered drugs needs to involve every organisation. Future research could develop a particular measure and score on awareness and knowledge amongst public on this issue. This test can be used as the indicator to evaluate the outcome of the future knowledge programmed.Keywords: Unregistered drugs, Awareness and educational programme, Pharmacist, Public, Perspective

Discord in the Family Environment: Reviewing incidences of fratricide and sororicide in Malaysia

Family discords or quarrels are considered normal and ordinary. However, the level and intensity of the discords and disputes have led to incidences of fratricide and sororicide. In the case of fratricide (the killing of one’s brother) and sororicide (the killing of one’s sister), the escalating number of incidences as reported in the media requires proper intervention by the relevant parties. The aim of this paper is to review published articles on family discords and violence, particularly on incidences of fratricide and sororicide. The findings and implications of the findings will be discussed in this review paper. Keywords: fratricide; sororicide; discord; family environment ISSN: 2398-4287© 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia