ELC 501: CRITICAL WRITING ANALYSIS

MEMBERS:
Name Student ID
Anis Aisyah binti Badaruddin 2021113765
Che Nur Syafiqah binti Che Azha 2021178737

GROUP:
AC2203B

LECTURER:
Sir Hairul Azhar Mohamad
Sample No. 1
Drug Shortage: The Scary Reality of a World Without Medication

In the article “Drug Shortage: The Scary Reality of a World Without Medication”, the
author states the issue of shortage of medication, the effects from it and steps to overcome the
issue. The author informs that the world is facing the problems of drug shortage that will affect
the patients and hospitals all around the world.  In this article, the author’s tone is serious and
worried as he uses words such as unfathomable, threatening and predicament. However, the
article is unbiased as he did not blame this situation on one specific party. The author’s intended
audiences to read this article are medical teams, professionals in the field of medication, and
health workers. 

             In the article, the author mentions that the shortage of drug happened because due to lack
of money. He stated that the manufacturers’ profits will decline as the drug prices have
dropped causes a decrease in the quality control. He then supports his point by adding a statistic,
reported by American Society of Clinical Oncology stated that 83% of oncologists and
hematologists had faced cancer drug shortages and claimed that their patients’ treatment affected
by drug shortage. The argument is relevant and consistent as he even added examples of
injectable drugs to support his claim. In addition, the issue point out by the author is complete
as he provides both major and minor supporting details. The author’s argument has credibility
and validity since he stated that patients were forced to switch to an alternative drug due to
shortage. The author generally appears to be deductive in his reasoning, as the argument starts
with a general statement of the main idea and ends with a specific detail statement.  

Next, the author states that limited manufacturing capacity led to drug shortage. He then
supports his claim by adding a report of an expert opinion by IMS Institute for Healthcare
Informatics. It stated that there are maximum of only two manufacturers over half of the drugs
shortage on the FDA list. The argument is relevant and consistent as he even added the effects
of shortage, causes the hospitals and patients to get drugs from less regulated sources. Even
though the author included his own opinion and provide both major and minor supporting
details, the author’s argument is not complete as he does not overcome the issue with a detail
solution on ways for the manufacturer to increase their production and supply more
medicine. The author’s argument has credibility and validity because the argument is convincing
since all points are well supported with a logical and strong evidence. From this argument, I
would assume that there are only a small number of manufacturers that have an expert skill and
knowledge in this field that causes to the shortage of medication.  

In addition, the author claims that the predatory middleman leads to the difficulty in
handling the shortage of medication. He then supports his point by adding a research finding on
an investigation by Elijah Cummings stated that, it is proven that there are a lot of shortage drugs
had been bought by a shady secondary wholesaler that then resell them at an excessively high
price. The argument is relevant as the author gives a strong supporting detail of a research
finding and consistently point out that predatory middleman causes the difficulty in handling the
shortage of drugs. However, it has a less credibility and validity as the argument is not complete
since the author does not give a specific detail explanation and solutions on how to overcome the
problem due to the unreasonable price set by the irresponsible person. The author generally
appears to be deductive in his reasoning as he started his argument with a specific statement and
end with a general statement.  

In conclusion, the overall point is relevant and consistent as he keeps discussing about the
causes and effects of drug shortage. The objective is fairly explained as the author did not
precisely point out on one specific party. However, the argument is not complete as he does not
give a clear picture on how to solve each of the issues and prevent the problems from happening
in the future. Despite that, the author managed to show the validity and credibility in most of the
main point highlighted, as he supports his claims with relevant supporting details and discuss
about the implications of the world without medication. It is crucial because those kinds of
studies will assist and help the medical teams and health workers worldwide to deal with this
issue. The article is worth reading as it as an eye opener and can even create awareness to the
readers as the article makes an important call for every professional in the field of healthcare to
look beyond usual solutions used to solve this problem.

(796 words)