Due to the embargo, the country will possible face a most dangerous state in health sector just because of Medicine Scarcity.
Our Pharmasastra team is coordinating Day and night with other bodies which is already published in our previous article.
This Article will briefly provide the basic idea, that how we can cope out with this current situation.
There
are many reasons why a medicine might go out of stock.
These include:
- Manufacturing problems
- Supply/demand imbalance
- Raw material problems
- Regulatory problems
The current situation is raised due to regulatory problem i.e. Embargo and In near future the country may face problem due to Lack of raw materials for Domestic Industries.
Each supply chain and the problem has its own identity and has to be solved specifically.
Currently the present situation can be solved by
Ministry of Health and Population
Department of Drug Administration (DDA)
Association of Pharmaceuticals Producers of Nepal (APPON)
At present Ministry at its level and DDA coordinating with the medicine supplier can solve the issue immediately. It can coordinate with other bodies too which directly or indirectly involved in Medicine management in Nepal.
Identification of The problem is the step towards the solution. Steps need to be followed by ministry to identify the current status.
- Identify the shortage of medicine and find the exact amount available in stock with domestic manufacturer and the Distributors.
- Working with companies to manage supply of existing stocks
- Identifying and liaising with other manufacturers to increase production of the product concerned and/or alternative medicines
- Identifying sources of product from abroad, and expediting import for individual patient use
- Identifying APPON manufacturing units with capacity and ability to meet demand
- Advising and facilitating communication with the DDA and Private agencies of Nepal involved in medicine supply chain management.
After identifying problem in details and Collecting the data from each source (APPON, Distributors, NCDC) the government can actualize the situation and predict precisely about it total capacity to support the demand of medicine.
Shortage of medicine doesn't mean Like No medicine at all. Shortage of medicines means, the inventory don't have sufficient amount of medicine to support the life for minimum period of time, it is generally few months. But the present situation is not yet analysed to depth by the concerned bodies.
With reference to the discussion with the higher officials of the distributors and supplier, at present the inventory is not sufficient to support the medicines, specially, Patented medicines produced by MNCs, Injectables, Medical Devices, Surgicals, Sera, Plasma proteins. The practice of prescribing brand name has created more problem for those medicines which already has generic version of Nepali medicines.
So special care has to be taken to those medicines which need to be imported. If MNCs in India can't supply the medicines which already mentioned above via land route, it has to be air lifted. If hundreds of Flight can come with thousands of tons of material via air route during earthquake, that, medicines just few tons can be airlifted and the expenditure has to be paid by the government to support the distributors.
To manage these condition , crisis management team should act promptly.
How the immediate/crisis management team should be?
- Able to predict the time of Shortage
- Able to find the way to import those medicines in shortage
- Able to coordinate all the private pharmaceutical bodies
Following is the steps that can be taken to cope the current medicine shortage
1. After collecting data and precise perdiction, the Health ministry should disclose the current status of medicine so that people won't worry.
2. Notification to those companies and distributors regarding shortages and take a step to coordinate with such suppliers, specially the importers.
3. Airlifting process has to be taken immediately. Subsidy should be provided if necessary, for special medicines (Life saving) for short period, at least taxes.
4. Companies and the DDA should then work together to develop and agree appropriate strategies for dealing with the particular problem.
5. Strong communication among all the bodies which are directly or indirectly involved in the pharmaceutical business.
6. Set up the contact points among various bodies.
7. Management the channel of distribution under the scrutiny of DDA.
Ministry can insist the Any Hospital or health institute to form Drug and therapeutic Committee. So that they can switch the brand, No one else(Except the Medical practitioner and DTC) has authority to switch the brand. SO immediate implementation of such committee at hospital level can work well to those medicines which already has sufficient amount of medicines.
At community Level
An idea of Crowd Sourcing is already being implemented under the direct supervision of Sumana Shrestha and Coordinatng with Raghav, Rajan, Dipesh Pradhan, Deepak Pradhan along with Pharmasastra team. This already has helped a lot. The facebook group platform is being used and various private bodies involved in Pharmaceutical business already started helping the public.
Report the shortage to the Ministry. DDA, or The community or contact us.
The youth activist already able to collect the details of pharmacies, one can contact them directly. Find the link below
You can fill up the form to help the community
By- Kabin Maleku
Tags:
Pharmacist voice