Emergency medicines flown in to plug gap
Shortages ‘a global phenomenon’
CAPE TOWN — The Department of Health is set to fly in an emergency stock of 20 key medicines from global suppliers to fill the gap while pharmaceutical manufacturers, unable to fulfil contracts, resolve their issues, it emerged yesterday.
The department inadvertently prompted an outcry last month after it published a list of medicines that were out of stock on its website. Although this is common practice in other countries, to alert doctors and suggest alternative products, publication of the list here triggered anxiety among patients. The list has since been removed.
On Friday, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi convened an urgent meeting with pharmaceutical manufacturers, the Medicines Control Council, the provinces health MECs and heads of health departments to establish the scale of the problem, the reasons for the stockouts, and how long it would take manufacturers to fulfil orders.
The department’s deputy director-general for regulation and compliance, Anban Pillay, said many of the items that were out of stock had ready substitutes, but 20 key medicines were unavailable and would be for at least four weeks. These included injectable penicillin, used for treating sexually transmitted diseases; atropine, used to regulate the heart beat, and digoxin, used for congestive heart failure.
Medicine shortages were a global phenomenon, he said, but what was significant in SA now was that some widely used essential drugs were out of stock.
“People don’t expect bread-- and-butter lines like penicillin to be unavailable,” Dr Pillay said.
Friday’s meeting had been constructive, he said. “I was fairly convinced the manufacturers are pulling out all the stops.” Manufacturers had been unable to fulfil orders primarily due to shortages of active pharmaceutical ingredients, but some had experienced batch failures.
Supplies of the HIV/AIDS drug abacavir had been restored, and all back orders would be filled in a fortnight. Problems with Sanofi’s four-in-one tuberculosis pill had been resolved.
Dr Pillay conceded manufacturers’ problems were not the only factor affecting shortages in the public sector, noting there were challenges with stock management at provincial medicine depots and health facilities.
SA’s biggest medicines courier company Medipost said pharmaceutical manufacturers regularly informed it of problems with supplies, and it was usually able to switch patients to suitable alternatives. Almost all the prescriptions it fulfils are for chronic conditions, including HIV/AIDS.
Medipost is short of more than 50 medicines, sold by both local and international pharmaceutical companies, said marketing director Rentia Myburgh.
“The private sector is generally in a better position regarding stockouts because our IT systems are better: we know exactly what’s on hand, what our reorder levels are, and get daily reports of problems. But long-term global shortages affect us too,” Ms Myburgh said.
Discovery Health CEO Jonathan Broomberg said its courier service MedXpress was experiencing shortages of about 50 items, less than 5% of its total medicine list. Most of these items had appropriate and readily available alternatives, but because they were commonly prescribed items, 15%-20% of orders was affected.
Cipla’s South African CEO Paul Miller said the situation in the private sector was no worse than usual.
People don’t expect bread-and-butter lines like penicillin to be unavailable