Chemists unaware of govt order, create H1N1 medicine scarcity

Confusion reign for chemists in the city on whether they can keep stocks of swine flu medicines in their stores, due to which it resulted in a huge shortage of Tamiflu, a H1N1 medicine.

Most chemist managers said they do not have a license to keep the stock of swine flu medicines. However, they are not aware of the government resolution which said all chemists can sell swine flu medicines.

The manager of the chemist located outside the King Edward Memorial hospital, Parel, said since the past many days there has been a shortage of swine flu medicine and only few pharmacies have the Tamiflu stock.

“As we do not have the license, we do not keep the stock of swine flu medicine in our store. Moreover, swine flu medicine is given only when the patients bring the prescription,” said Shiva Patil, who works with Shivkripa Medical store, Parel.

State Health Minister Dr. Deepak Sawant had asked all doctors to prescribe Tamiflu tablets to patients if they have fever of more than 100 degree Celsius. Also, all chemist shops were granted permission to dispense Tamiflu to control swine flu, he said.

“One of the reasons behind the shortage is that managers of the chemist shops do not know that according to the new government resolution, they can keep the stock of swine flu in their stores,” said a senior health official.

The state’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had sent out a circular in July alerting chemists in the state that antiviral drugs Oseltamivir and Zanamivir have been withdrawn from Schedule X and moved to Schedule H1. Available under several brand names, both drugs are also prescribed to H1N1 patients.

Earlier, it was notified that only schedule X license holder can only dispense Tamiflu.

“The chemists are not keeping the stock because they are still not aware that they can sell Tamiflu which controls swine flu. It has been notified that both Schedule X and Scheduled H1 license holder chemists, can sell these drugs,” said Nitin Maniyar, Secretary, Chemist and Retail Dispensing Associations.