Patients deserve more medical attention

Re “Dumbing down health care can be dangerous,” letter, June 7.

I agree entirely with Dr. Christopher Lam. Diagnosing and treating dysmenorrhea, dyspepsia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, headache, hemorrhoids, urinary tract infection, shingles some of the listed problems for pharmacists to sort out, are among the diagnoses most fraught with worrisome differential possibilities.

Will the pharmacists take a full history knowing what questions to ask? Will they do an examination? Can they order the appropriate lab tests, x-rays etc?

What connection with the family doctor will there be? Who’s going to follow up with the patient?

The therapies listed as appropriate for the pharmacists to prescribe look mostly like symptomatic treatments.

Delaying proper diagnosis? Stalling effective investigations/treatments?

As a retired family doctor, I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. Patients deserve full-scope medical attention, and pharmacists deserve to perform the necessary health-care role they are properly trained for.

Neil Finnie Retired family doctor Victoria