THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said some brands of paracetamol may be experiencing shortages, but added the overall supply is adequate.
“Tight supply for some brands… is due to timing of deliveries to replenish the stocks in the branches of these drugstores,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in a Viber message on Tuesday.
“In particular, popular brands (like) Biogesic or Decolgen, which are (the) paracetamol and analgesics of United Laboratories, Inc. (Unilab), may be having temporary out of stock situations. Their manufacturer had a delivery cut off last December but deliveries started coming this week,” he added.
Mr. Lopez said the supply of other brands and generics is ample.
“Rhea Generics products aren’t affected as much, also because their lines are supplied by major companies. There are other brands of paracetamol in the market so there is no shortage. There are also a lot of generic products in the market,” Mr. Lopez said.
Mr. Lopez said he will ask drugstores to limit per-person quantities for sale to discourage panic-buying.
He also asked consumers to file report profiteers trying to take advantage of the tight supply.
“We will charge them. We also advise consumers (that) they buy from reputable drugstores to ensure fair prices according to the suggested retail price and not from sari-sari stores,” Mr. Lopez said.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the Department of Health (DoH) also said it does not consider the supply situation for paracetamol and other drugs for flu-like symports to be a shortage.
“(We) would like to assure the public that there is no ongoing shortage in the Philippines. Paracetamol has many generic alternatives in the market, which are available in many drug stores nationwide,” the DoH said.
“We would like to appeal to consumers however to refrain from hoarding, panic-buying, or unnecessary purchases of such medications when not clinically warranted,” it added.
Separately, the DTI’s Mr. Lopez also encouraged self-testing for people going to gatherings.
“If one is not feeling anything or is asymptomatic, one would not have done anyway the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for that day. But an antigen test can detect if one is infectious or not for that day and can be preventive,” Mr. Lopez said.
“This is better than no test at all for asymptomatics. We should allow this in drugstores so that people can have voluntary home tests at lower cost. This is on top of the required vaccination,” he added. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
