They can make their order for repeat medicine either through the short message system (SMS), phone call or e-mail in advance and come to the hospital later to collect their supply, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said.

"The initiative has been expanded to 14 health clinics in Federal Territory and 62 in Kedah. It has benefited 192 clients in Federal Territory since its introduction on July 12 and 202 in Kedah since April 27," he said.

Mohd Sidek said should there be encouraging response from the public, the SMS Take N Go service will be expanded to other hospitals, adding that Putrajaya Hospital also recently added value to its service by delivering the medicine to the patients’ residence.

The Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Petaling Jaya has a similar service called the ‘PharmCare By Post’, which was introduced in May, under the hospital’s out-patient pharmacy section called PharmCare, which began in 2007.

Long-term medication patients do not need to wait in long queues to obtain their medications using this service as it will be delivered to them.

Pharmacist Giam Wei Li, who is in charge of this service, told theSun: "Most of the long-term medication patients are very old and it is a hassle for them to come once every two-months to purchase their medicine, some of them may not have own transport and when they get here, they have to wait."

Giam said the hospital daily receives about 2,500 people, who come in to purchase the long-term prescriptions, and delivering the medicines to the patients’ homes would reduce the number of people going in and out of the hospital every day.

"At the moment there are 120 patients registered for the ‘by post’ service and the medications will be delivered to their door-step once every two months," she said.

Giam said only tablets will be sent through this service; no syrups or eye-drops will be delivered.

She said the two-month supply of medications will be sent via Pos Laju to the patients on a specific date of the months with a fixed delivery charge of RM5 for West Malaysia and RM8 for East Malaysia. -- theSun