No medicine shortage for Pharmaniaga

Pharmaniaga Bhd group managing director Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope.

PETALING JAYA: There does not appear to be a shortage of medicines for Pharmaniaga Bhd.

The biggest pharmaceutical group said a good reason for the apparent shortage is quite likely due to people falling sick more often after lockdowns restrictions have been eased.

"During Covid-19, many stayed at home and there was much less an occurrence of sickness. This is based on the sales statistics of our antibiotics and medicines - last year these were very low. But when the lockdowns were eased, there is a higher occurrence of fever etc," its group managing director Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope said.

He noted that lockdowns were loosened at around the same time in many countries which is the reason why there was an apparent shortage.

"After Covid-19, an increased number of people have also become more health-conscious so they also do a stockpile of (medicines) in their own houses - this is more than usual before the pandemic," he added.

He said the group always had a three to six months inventory stock of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) which is required to manufacture pharmaceutical drugs.

"We are actively studying and monitoring the API price - we always have a few suppliers in case of any shortage or fluctuations in price," he said.