The attorney general for labor and social security of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, Diana Margarita Ojeda, alerted the health authorities regarding the still persisting drug shortage in the country, for this reason he asked the Ministry of Health and Invima to prioritize this problem.
“The different health sectors, in various meetings they have had with the Attorney General’s Office, have informed us of the shortage of supplies that is occurring in the country. Because, We send a list to the Ministry of Health where we reference more than 720 medicines that are scarce in the distributors”, indicated the delegate attorney.
The drugs that, according to the official, are scarcer are those related to mental health and noncommunicable diseases, that have increased due to covid-19.
According to the official, the Ministry’s response to this problem is “that it was a global problemthat they are working on it and that they were going to negotiate with the Colombian industries for the production of those medicines”.
However, he warned that although Colombia has a good pharmaceutical industry, “there are some products that are not produced in the country due to the lack of raw material”, so this option can take several years.
In October of last year, the Colombian Association of Retail Drug Users (Asocoldro) warned of the shortage of more than 100 references of essential medicines without stocks.
According to Asocoldro, the shortage was due to the fact that the necessary quantity of medicines is not being produced to supply the world market, since there are not enough containers to transport the merchandise. They also attribute the situation to the pandemic, which caused shortages of raw materials, port closures around the world and therefore an increase in freight prices.
Currency fluctuations, the effects of the war in Ukraine, the prioritization of laboratories in the commercial channel over the institutional one, the congestion in Invima procedures and the liquidation of the EPS they also affect the trade of medicines in the country.
