Hundreds of basic medications are in scarce supply in Australia, as the country’s stocks of essential drugs continue to diminish.
Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said on Sunday Amoxicillin syrup, which is used to treat bacterial infections, was among the crucial medicines facing a critical shortage.
“These are drugs that are essential,” he told Weekend Today.
“What we learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is we are balanced on a knife edge in terms of medication supply.”
The infectious diseases physician and prominent medical commentator said an overhaul of Australia’s pharmaceutical industry was necessary to stop further shortages.
“I think in the longer term we’ve seen that we don’t have the manufacturing capacity in Australia and that needs to change,” he said.
“There’s some good news on the front of mRNA vaccines and other vaccines which will be produced onshore but we’re talking about basic medicines.”
Dr Coatsworth said people were going from pharmacy to pharmacy to obtain essential drugs because of the shortages, with those in rural areas being hit extra hard.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed more than 700,000 Australians were either delayed in acquiring or went without their prescription medication in the 2021-2022 financial year.
Doctors and pharmacy groups have been lobbying the government ahead of the May federal budget to make changes in a bid to help reduce the strain on the market.
One suggestion put forward by medical advocates is to change dispensing and prescribing rules, allowing the number of drugs dispersed to be doubled in each prescription and extend the prescription period.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is also calling for the government to extend the length of prescriptions.
But some pharmacy groups say they are concerned the proposed changes could worsen medicines shortages.
The National Pharmacy Guild is campaigning to reduce the maximum co-payment of PBS medicines from $30 to $19.
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