Costly medication? Blame clinics stocking up on drugs: Forum writer

My recent cardiac bypass operation has made me familiar with heart medication - and how costly it is here compared to prices in Malaysia.

The cost of a month's supply of heart medication here can buy three months' worth of the same drug in Malaysia.

A retiree who used to sell drugs to clinics and hospitals told me that their cost is actually very low.

A pill's actual cost could be less than 10 cents, but patients could be charged as much as 50 cents. That is a 400 per cent mark-up.

The reason? Most small clinics tie up their cash by stockpiling drugs. The mark-up provides for that as well as drugs that expire before they can be sold - after all, they need to be constantly replenished or written off if they expire.

Perhaps this is one reason why doctors in the United States do not dispense drugs, but write prescriptions for patients to obtain them from pharmacies.

Centralised buying, storage, sale and distribution of drugs may be an effective way of reducing costs - instead of having clinics in Singapore stockpiling their own supplies.

The cost of lifelong medication can be prohibitive for a retiree subsisting on his Central Provident Fund or life savings, and every little bit of money saved helps.

- Matthew Ong

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