Physician–Medical Manufacturing Industry Relationships: Perceptions of Malaysians

Abstract

The relations between physicians and the medical manufacturing industry(MMI) which includes pharmaceutical, medical device or implants or life science industry, etc., are well known. To promote better physician–patient relationship and to safeguard patients’ interest, it has been proposed to make physician–industry financial relations transparent and accessible to public. This study aimed to explore Malaysian public’s perceptions towards these relationships. A survey questionnaire was specifically prepared to meet the objective of the study after a review of the existing literature. Statements describing various types of physician–industry financial interactions were formulated based on previous research. The participants were instructed to mark their response to each statement based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. More than half (57.1%) of the participants were aware of the relationships between physicians and MMI and online database was noted to be the most preferred type of disclosure. Age, gender, race, education status, annual income and subjective health influenced the perceptions. Since consumers (patients) are the key stakeholders of the healthcare industry, their opinions are important. It is hoped that disclosing the financial relationships will help them to make a better-informed decision while choosing their healthcare provider.