{"id":11159,"date":"2021-08-29T13:28:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T05:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=11159"},"modified":"2021-08-29T13:28:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T05:28:44","slug":"no-break-in-supply-of-covid-19-medicines-despite-increased-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=11159","title":{"rendered":"No break in supply of COVID-19 medicines despite increased demand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug\u00a029 —\u00a0Public hospitals throughout the country are still getting their supplies of COVID-19 medicines despite a drastic\u00a0increase in demand and disruption in supplies from producers, said Health director-general\u00a0Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said medicines were still being received in stages as the Health Ministry (MoH) had taken various approaches to overcome the problem of supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the demand for medicines used in the treatment of COVID-19 had increased drastically since May this year, following a spike in cases not only in Malaysia but also worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Noor Hisham said the demand for medicines in the country had increased by 10 to 15 times compared to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period, which affected the level of stocks for COVID-19 medicines in public hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoH was told of disruptions in supplies from pharmaceutical companies overseas following the pandemic and local manufacturers also have\u00a0limited capability\u00a0to provide a big amount of stocks in a short period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"covid-19<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is due to a shortage of raw materials faced by producers and an unstable flow of additional raw materials into the country,\u201d he said in a statement today in response to media reports on the shortage of these drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Noor Hisham said MoH had taken several measures to overcome the problem, including keeping in constant communication with suppliers to get priority in supply for Malaysia and seeking alternative sources of medications under federal contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MoH has also made emergency procurements at the national and state Health Department levels, apart from facilitating off-contract purchases for 21 types of medicines related to COVID-19 treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoH also continues to hold discussions with medical specialists on alternative medicines that are suitable for use to ensure continuity in treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not limited to the Ministry of Health Medicines Formulary but encompasses all registered and non-registered medicines which can be obtained to meet our needs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Noor Hisham said for the sake of the people\u2019s well-being, MoH was committed to cooperating with various parties to ensure the availability of medical supplies and the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines procured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, a news portal quoted sources as saying that many\u00a0government hospitals across the country are facing a critical shortage of medications, including\u00a0Clexane, which is an important anticoagulant drug used for COVID-19 treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug\u00a029 —\u00a0Public hospitals throughout the country are still getting their supplies of COVID-19…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7574,524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid19","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41-300x186.png",300,186,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-29-at-13.25.41.png",590,365,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"COVID19<\/a> Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11161,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11159\/revisions\/11161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}