KUALA LUMPUR: The free postal medicine delivery initiative, set to begin on Oct 1, will not only make it easier for patients to obtain their medication but also ease the burden on family members by reducing the need to make repeated trips to healthcare facilities.
Teacher Shuhada Musiran, 39, said the initiative would reduce the burden on children managing their parents' medication supplies, particularly those who live far away from such facilities.
"Children who live far away from their parents can use the postal medicine delivery service to make it easier to collect their medication.
"It will make it easier for children to fulfil their responsibility of ensuring that their parents always have an adequate supply of medicines,” she said.
Shuhada, who is based in Rembau, Negri Sembilan, said the service would also save elderly patients time and energy as they would no longer need to queue for long periods at healthcare facilities to collect their medicines.
Meanwhile, private company clerk Noorhafiza Ramli, 38, said postal medicine delivery had been available in Johor for several years and had benefited her as she was responsible for collecting her parents' medication.
She said making the service free was a much-awaited move for children who arranged postal delivery of medicines for their parents.
"Previously, patients’ families had to pay RM6 for each medicine delivery, but with this initiative being implemented from next month, it will certainly help reduce the financial burden on patients’ families,” she said.
On Saturday (Sept 26), Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said that his ministry, through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), would help the Health Ministry provide free postal delivery of medicines from Oct 1 to patients who opt in to the service.
About RM5mil has been allocated to the nationwide initiative, which is expected to benefit about 80,000 patients a month. – Bernama
