There is no shortage of medicines in the hospitals, rather some "disturbances" in some products, declared Wednesday in Algiers M’hamed Ayad, manager of the Central Pharmacy of Hospitals (PCH), adding that the bill of drug import reached DZD42 billion, DZD23 billion of them allocated to cancer treatment.
"These disturbances in some products are explained by some factors like the fluctuations on the international market in terms of distribution and raw material availability," the manager of PCH told the national radio.
With the global demand for medicine increasing by 5%, the international laboratories “find difficulties to meet this demand,” Ayad said, while adding that the international calls for tender launched by PCH for the purchase of medicines do not "sometimes" receive bids from these laboratories.
"All drugs are available, including painkillers," he insisted, noting that "even such developed countries as Canada" are facing disturbances in the matter.
The PCH establishes a "prognosis" over a period of six months taking into account the "means and the history" of the consumption of drugs in order to avoid stockouts, the manager said.
Asked about the disturbance in a product used in chemotherapy for patients with cancer, the official said that this problem of distribution was solved.
At the end of 2014, the cost of these imports will reach around 60 billion dinars, of which 40 billion earmarked for cancer research, Ayad predicted, while recalling the government’s decision of writing off the debt of hospitals to the PCH, which totaled DZD 25 billion and other debts contracted elsewhere.
Source: APS