Al-Kisah Goutnil

I suffer from acute gout (atau nama penuhnya "Goutemala" ~heh heh, lawak bodoh).

When my joints swell, it hurts like hell.

Bila ada gout attack, I depend on one type of magic pill called 'Goutnil' (atau nama lainnya 'cholcicine'~ ini bukan lawak).

This is basically how the pill works:

I have to keep taking these tablets until diarrhea sets in.

In this case, the inability to stop shitting is actually good.

Every trip to the toilet flushes out uric acid which causes gout from my body.

But this post ain't about Gout 101.


Instead, here's my story about consumer-screwing.

I usually frequent a pharmacy in SS15 Subang Jaya to get my stock of Goutnil. All these while, the towkay charges me RM3 for a strip of 10 pills.

What he charges I consider fair, since ada some pharmacies sell the same medicine for RM4, or RM3.50 per strip.

Yesterday I had a gout attack, but the SS15 pharmacy ran out of Goutnil.

So I went to a pharmacy within driving distance dari situ (no way was I gonna walk that far with a swollen knee!) and to my surprise, they sold me the pills at RM2 per strip! I bought 5 strips terus.

I don't understand why the same type of medicine is sold at different prices? Even the packaging is the same, all produced by the same company.

Even when sold at RM2 per strip, I'm sure ada untung.

The bastard in SS15 buta-buta profits RM1 from every strip of Goutnil sold. Other bastards who sell it for more lagilah untung banyak.

This incident made me think.

This is an example of a small item. Sebijik ubat yang harganya 10 sen maybe, being sold at 30-40 sen to the public.

What about more expensive medicines? Brapa lak diorang muck-up?

It pisses me off to think ntah brapa banyak yang kedai ubat n pharmacies dah tipu consumers like me as far as medicines and health products are concerned.


Tapi I don't see any point in reporting this type of inconsistency to any authorities.

Silap haribulan, they'll ask you for a bribe first.

You don't have 50, 5 ringgit also they will wallop, trust me.

And them bastards in the government raised cigarette prices again.

Maybe so that Goutnil will be sold cheaper across Malaya.

Whateverlah, gua pergi berak dululah!