Click here to view the National Essential Drugs List (pdf format, 240KB, 31 pages)

Introduction
The WHO concept of essential medicines
Malaysian NEDL

Introduction 

Essential medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population; thus should be easily available in adequate quantities and in suitable dosage forms. The Essential Medicine List [EML] is a tool that can help manage the purchasing and distribution of medicines and the selection of quality assured and cost-effective products and thus one of the vital tools needed to improve and maintain health. 

The WHO concept of essential medicines 

A limited range of carefully selected essential medicines leads to better health care, better drug management, and lower costs

Selection criteria: Essential medicines are selected with due regard to disease prevalence, evidence on efficacy and safety, and comparative cost-effectiveness

Purpose: Essential medicines are intended to be available within the context of functioning health systems at all times, in adequate amounts, in the appropriate dosage forms, with assured quality, and at a price the individual and the community can afford.

Implementation: The implementation of the concept of essential medicines is intended to be flexible and adaptable to many different situations; exactly which medicines are regarded as essential remains a national responsibility.

The Essential Medicines Target



Malaysian NEDL

The suggestion to create Malaysia’s National Essential Drugs List [NEDL] for use both in the private and public sectors was first mooted in 1996, as one of the strategies to ensure that the public could afford to purchase drugs. The NEDL was formulated after consultation with all the stakeholders in the health care industry and based on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Drugs List, which serves as the essential drugs list for the Ministry of Health since 1983.

The Honorable Minister of Health launched the first edition of NEDL in January 2000. The first part of the NEDL consists all preparations needed for primary, secondary and tertiary health care treatment. It consists of 358 chemical entities and 605 preparations. The second part of the NEDL is the supplementary list consisting of drugs used for tertiary treatment and contains 257 chemical entities and 391 preparations.

The NEDL was formulated with the following objectives:-
1. Ensure the cost-effectiveness of treatment through suitable therapy, the use of generic drugs and cheaper alternatives.
2. Encourage the rational use of drugs by avoiding over-prescribing and mis-prescribing.
3. Make the healthcare system more transparent.
4. Control the rising cost of healthcare and thus help control inflation.
5. Ensure the patient’s right to obtain adequate information, especially:-
     i. The right to complete information that is easily understood regarding the drugs that are prescribed and sold.
     ii. The right to choose among competitive products. 

The concept of essential medicines is forward-looking. It incorporates the need to regularly update medicines selections to reflect new therapeutic options and changing therapeutic needs; the need to ensure drug quality; and the need for continued development of better medicines, medicines for emerging diseases, and medicines to meet changing resistance patterns. 

Updating of the first NEDL started in year 2005 by the Drug list Review Panel, with the help of the Technical Drug Working Committee, Ministry of Health. The Technical Drug Working Committee of MOH can get the feedback from their counterparts in the private sector on the selection of the list in their particular discipline. The Drug List Review Panel finally accepted the list in September 2008.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Ministry of Health wishes to express its gratitude to the following organizations which jointly contributed to the development of the National Essential Drugs List.

The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
The School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Science University of Malaysia
The National Poisons Centre
The Faculty of Integrated Health Sciences, National University of Malaysia
The Medical Faculty, University of Malaya
The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society
The Malaysian Organization of Pharmaceutical Industries
The Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia
The Malaysian Medical Association
The Drug List Review Panel, MOH
The Technical Drug Working Committee from 17 disciplines, MOH

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