A pharmaceutical industry leader on Tuesday sounded the alarm over persistent difficulties in getting potentially life-saving medication to patients with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), amid ongoing supply chain strains and rising drug prices.
The President of the Barbados Pharmaceutical Society, Marlon Ward Rogers, urged greater public engagement and continued vigilance to ensure vulnerable groups receive vital care as NCDs continue to account for 80 per cent of deaths.
Ward Rogers said that getting the message to NCD patients to take their medication is a major challenge.
“It’s about getting the information out to the patients and making sure that they can understand the importance of using the medication, getting regular check-ups in order to battle the NCD problem that they were having,” Ward Rogers told Barbados TODAY in an interview, admitting this is one challenge his organisation has to work hard to overcome going forward.
But Ward Rogers insisted that there was no drug supply shortage at the moment.
Last month, private pharmacists said that intermittent shortages of prescription medicines, including those for chronic conditions, were being managed and that alternative drugs were available while supplies stabilise.
But Ward Rogers announced that patients can expect to pay higher prices at pharmacies for those drugs that the Barbados Drug Formulary, administered by the Barbados Drug Service, often subsidises.
He said suppliers do their best to try to import those medicines not readily available at any given time, even if at a higher price, to ensure that the patients who need them can get them until they can replenish the one on the formulary, which is at a cheaper price.
He blamed the intermittent shortages on supply chain challenges triggered by geopolitical issues overseas.
He explained: “Ever since [the COVID-19 pandemic] and then exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, the shipping and different things… you’ve got the Panama Canal, then you’ve got the tariffs. So, it is a whole global thing. In Barbados, sometimes shipments are delayed, sometimes different things happen.
“However, as I tell most people, most of the time when somebody says something is missing, the brand-name medication might be missing, but there might be an alternative in a generic form; and then some people may say the pharmacies don’t have any. Then, for some items, it may be out of stock altogether.”
He continued: “A lot of the time when people say [there is a shortage], they say this because the polyclinic, which is on the government side, doesn’t have the medication. However, if they traverse into private, they would find it a lot of the time.”
Newly re-elected to lead the society, Ward Rogers said the priority in his new term will remain the interests of both pharmacists and patients.
He said: “To make sure we look after the interests of pharmacists and the patient. To make sure that we can push forward the profession of pharmacy, and also to make sure that patients can get the best care possible. Obviously, we try to do more things like trying to do a lot more continuing education.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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