KARACHI:
Pakistan is currently facing a severe crisis of medicine shortage. This is a complex phenomenon that has significant implications on patient care and safety. The shortage of medicines has resulted in adverse clinical, economic and humanistic impacts on patients. Patients often resort to risk-prone practices to avoid treatment disruption during shortages, which can lead to suboptimal treatment and associated medication errors.
Several factors contribute to the shortage of medicines in the country including disturbance in the pharmaceutical supply chain, pharmaceutical market dynamics, quality of medicines, etc. These factors are further complicated by a lack of effective risk-management strategies and punitive policies to address the issue.
To alleviate the impact of medicine shortages on patients, it is recommended that promotion of generic prescription, implementation of punitive policies and proper patient consultation be prioritised. Healthcare professionals should also be encouraged to provide effective patient counselling to deter risk-prone practices associated with medicines shortages. The adverse clinical, economic and humanistic impact of medicine shortages demands the introduction of risk-management strategies for medicines shortages in hospital and community settings in accordance with international standards.
We, as a community, must also raise collective voice to shake up and prompt relevant stakeholders to take the necessary action to address this issue.
Tehzeeb
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2024.
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