Recently, I attended an evening talk hosted by
Novartis, a renowned drug manufacturer, for some of our medical centre's doctors. Although meant for medical professionals, I, nevertheless, took this opportunity to learn more about this common physiological anomaly as it is so prevalent in our modern society. The facts I gathered was startling!
The main focus of the talk was centred around a program for people who are hypertensive (
high blood pressure). Novartis is one of the supporters in Malaysia for this program called "Blood Pressure Success Zone (BPSZ) Program" - the other being Malaysian Corporate Health Advisory Forum (MCHAF).
Basically, this program is a patient's support program designed to encourage them to take their medication everyday. This may sound simple but you will be amazed that a lot of patients do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctor. My mother is an example - she just forgets to take her daily medications to control her blood pressure, although just one tablet per day!
According to a study
¹ done by some local medical researchers, here are some facts revealed on patients' non-compliance problem:
- Non-compliance rate was 56% among patients and non-compliance results in wastage of RM20,261 worth of unused medication per year.
- Patients in the older age group.
- Those taking two or more drugs.
- Patients' forgetfulness.
- Inability to read instructions on drug labels.
Many people are unable to control their
blood pressure because they do not take their medication every day. Most stop after a few months because they feel fine without seeing much
symptoms and do not know that they could be prone to a heart attack or stroke at any moment resulting from uncontrolled blood pressure. The program aims to implement preventive measures to reduce risk of complications of uncontrolled
high blood pressure which may leads to strokes, heart attacks, blindness or renal (kidney) failure.
Although, initially patients might not feel any different when they start taking their prescribed medication, they will later actually be doing their heart a whole lot of good.
By joining the program, the patient will receive:
- Monthly short messaging services (SMS) on medication reminders and lifestyle advice.
- Educational mailers to remind patient to take their medication regularly and provide health information on blood pressure.
- Learn and improve awareness of hypertension and take appropriate steps to better care of health.
To join the program one needs to just contact your doctor or Novartis.
¹ Reference: Aziz A.M. and Ibrahim M.I. "Medication non-compliance - a thriving problem" Medical Journal of Malaysia. (1999) 54(2): 192-9.
