The Health Ministry is considering providing incentives to encourage the private sector to set up Community Pharmacy in rural areas. Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said…realising the lack of pharmacies in rural areas and inequitable distribution, the Health Ministry was looking into a zoning system to distribute pharmacies accordingly in urban and rural areas so that the people would not be deprived of such facilities…Currently, the ratio of pharmacists to the population in Malaysia is 1:2,947 people and by 2016 it is expected to reach the optimum ratio of 1:2,000 people set by the World Health Organisation.