Doctor Alipate Vakamocea on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan

The process that Government and the Ministry of Health are using when it comes to the Fiji Procurement Office and the Ministry of Finance is that they have to get three quotes for medicine when they run out.

Fiji Medical Association President Dr Alipate Vakamocea highlighted this on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan saying whether it be panadol or amoxicillin they need three quotes.

He says medicine shortage will continue with the current system in place.

Dr Vakamocea says out-of-stock drugs means delay in care, meaning that somebody is not receiving the ideal care, and that could cause issues.

He says these consumables are not made in Fiji, so the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services Centre now has to look outside Fiji and get three quotes and make sure that they are quality approved which adds to the delays.

The FMA President says it is interesting because they may have these issues in the Ministry of Health, but Aspen and Oceania do not have them because their systems and processes are designed specifically for efficiency.

One of the issues that people have raised is mainly about blood pressure tablets as most of the time they are out of stock, or they cannot go and buy at the private pharmacies because it is too expensive. The FMA President says the Head of FPBS will have a list of all the essential drugs, all the medications and consumables that are out of stock and that list has never changed.

He says while the names on the list would change, the length has remained the same.

Dr Vakamocea says they will always have these issues until they have some solid commitment to changing the way that they do ordering, especially for drugs, medicines, consumables and biomedical equipment.

He adds unless that changes, they are going to walk down this path next year, and the years to come.