KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 — The Malaysian Association of Pharmaceutical Suppliers (MAPS) has highlighted delayed supplies of imported generic medicines due to shipment delays amid the West Asia conflict.
MAPS members – which are Malaysian companies that mostly import generic pharmaceuticals into the country – work with sources on a rolling forecast and supply arrangement to ensure a “fine balance” of stock availability and cash flow.
“Our main bottleneck is lead-time for order fulfillment by our suppliers. There may be pockets of out-of-stock situations by a certain supplier mainly due to shipment delays,” MAPS president Lim Teng Chyuan told CodeBlue.
“Most of our members have reported about two weeks’ delay in shipment, but the shipments are still coming, although freight costs are escalating fast. One of our members reported that even their Gulf Air transporter carrying their goods is still operating despite being caught in the conflict zone.”
MAPS expressed concern that consumers might resort to panic buying to hedge against cost escalation and “perceived rather than real” shortage of medicines, after drug price increases were recently reported in the media.
“Consumers should maintain sufficient stocks, rather than panic buy. Panic buying is not helpful as it would create a gap of supply between some consumers having too much and others having no stock,” said Lim.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad told reporters last Friday that drug prices have risen by about 30 to 40 per cent, with even higher price hikes for medical devices at up to 100 per cent. He also claimed that medicine supply was sufficient until the end of June, but didn’t mention medical devices.
Lim said the pharmaceutical industry – represented by MAPS, the Malaysian Organisation of Pharmaceutical Industries (MOPI), and the Pharmaceutical Association of Malaysia (PhAMA) – was working with the Ministry of Health’s Pharmacy Services Programme (PSP).
MOPI represents pharmaceutical manufacturers in Malaysia, whereas PhAMA represents makers of original medicines.
“PSP will have a complete picture on the specific products of concern. Such information should be used wisely, so as not to cause panic reactions from the public,” said Lim.
“The industry will act on information provided from the PSP to ramp up production or increase stock procurement from supply partners.”
CodeBlue reported yesterday that Malaysia is facing an emerging shortage of dialysers, a core component of haemodialysis (HD) therapy, and other HD consumables like canister or bottle packaging for dialysis concentrate solution, posing a threat to the lives of more than 50,000 HD patients in the country.
