The shortage of medicines in the State of Israel is expanding. After the paracetamol, the Klonx to calm anxiety and other pills to treat pain and several types of antibiotics, the pharmaceutical companies informed us yesterday (Tuesday) about the expected cessation of marketing of Strepsils and Calgeron tablets for sore throats, the Strattera drug for the treatment of attention and concentration problems, and more. “The Ministry of Health has lost control and the shortage of drugs will intensify,” claims the chairman of the Pharmacists’ Association, David Pepo.
In the last three years, according to him, the shortage of medicines is getting worse and the Ministry of Health, he accuses, is burying their heads in the sand. “They claim that all the missing drugs have generic alternatives, but there is nothing in this answer other than evading responsibility,” Pepo says angrily. According to him, “Almost all existing diseases for which well-known and old medicines are in short supply, starting with cancer and against inflammations and headaches, and more. It is not true that all of them have generic medicines and even the generics will wear out. Even if there are alternative medicines there are still between 10-15 percent of the population that the alternative medicines do not suit them and you can’t ignore that.” Among the drugs that have no alternative at all, Pepo lists the popular Klonax drug for calming anxiety and mental difficulties.
The lack of medicines resulted in a significant increase in the cost of living. “A medicine that is on the subsidized list of the health insurance fund, you can legally buy it for a fee of NIS 18. The generic alternative of the same medicine already costs full price and you can also pay NIS 70 for it. We are talking about medicines that many need,” Pepo points out.
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In response, the Ministry of Health tells us that they are not aware of the shortage presented by David Pepo, the representative of the pharmacists’ committee in the health system. However, the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, directed the Pharmacy Division to conduct a comprehensive inspection with the HMOs to map the shortages in medicines “if there are any”.
An official from the Ministry of Health claimed to the Rishon source website that in fact the responsibility for managing the drug inventory and procurement issues rests with the health insurance funds, and they are the ones who need to find the appropriate answer. According to it, the Ministry of Health guides the funds and the hospitals in aspects of the volumes required for routine and emergencies and does not interfere in their procurement. Pepo claims that “this is the meaning of the privatization of the health system in the State of Israel and abdication of responsibility while the same ministry that claims it is not responsible is the one that determines for importers what to do, how and when and how much to charge for the medicines and what inventory needs to be taken care of and more.”
The senior official in the Ministry of Health also says that the phenomenon of drug shortages is very common and there is always a solution to it, and in the end these drugs also return to the shelves. The Pharmacists’ Association claims on the other hand that in the ten months of 2022, the number of marketing interruptions was twice as many as all marketing interruptions in 2021, and there is no guarantee that they will return soon. “It is impossible to avoid responsibility and say that you are not responsible for the procurement, but not to make sure that there is security and a guarantee of the availability of medicines. The shortage is increasing day by day and more medicines are missing” replies Pepo.
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So why are there actually no medicines, and what happened that the issue is on the public agenda and is well felt by the health insurance companies, but the Ministry of Health apparently does not recognize it? Some claim that it is a fight between the importers and the drug companies over drug prices, and that the shortage is not real. On the other hand, even in the world the delay and shortage of medicines is evident due to the effects of the war in Ukraine, the corona epidemic, the expensive transportation costs and transportation times, the economic and employment crisis in the world and more.
Pepo claims that the supply of drugs in the country is in an emergency and must be responded to immediately. “The Ministry of Health sets prices at which the importers are unable to bring medicines, there is demand and worldwide we are facing a shortage, there are problems with production and distribution and regulation. For every smallest change in the ingredients you have to wait months for regulation. There are people who search all over the country for the medicines they need and cannot find them. We are in a state of emergency and must ease the regulation and do everything to cover the shortage. We knew how to bring ventilators from all over the world at the beginning of the corona virus and the state knows how to bring medicine as well. If factories lack raw materials, the Ministry of Health can no longer sit back and roll its eyes at the sky and not deal with the incident and react to it.” .