THE Kuala Lumpur Federal Court has upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling giving doctors the right to dispense Ivermectin to patients, reported The New Straits Times.
Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat in dismissing the Health Ministry's appeal on the case, said Ivermectin is classified as a Group B poison and that any registered medical practitioner could sell, supply, or administer it for treatment.
In August 2023, a three-member Court of Appeal bench unanimously held that a registered medical practitioner may dispense Ivermectin to a patient for the purposes of medical treatment only, and in compliance with Section 19 of the Poisons Act 1952 and the Poison Regulations 1952.
"We are further fortified in this view by reason of the fact that section 21(2) of the act contains an entire procedure on prescriptions and how such poison (considered medication) is sold or supplied to the patient for the treatment of that patient," said Tungku Maimun in her written judgment.
She said the Federal Court agreed with the respondents' submission that under Section 19, they, and all registered medical practitioners were allowed by law to dispense Ivermectin to patients for their treatment.
The earlier Court of Appeal ruling was made in answer to two questions posed to the court in an appeal brought by Dr S Vijaendran, president of the Malaysian Association for the Advancement of Functional and Interdisciplinary Medicine (Maafim), and Dr Che Amir Farid Che Isahak.
The questions include whether, under the Poisons Act 1952 and the Poisons Regulations 1952, a registered medical practitioner is entitled to dispense Ivermectin as an ingredient to his or her patient.
The other question posed was whether a registered medical practitioner can dispense Ivermectin to his or her patients for the purpose of the medical treatment of the patient and in compliance with the Act and the regulations.
In March 2022, the High Court dismissed the doctors' suit but this was overturned by the Court of Appeal the following year. - March 3, 2025
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