High demand for fever, flu and cough medicines

KUALA LUMPUR: Sales of paracetamol in the country jumped by 238% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“There is an exponential increase in demand for fever, flu and cough medicines,” he added.

Khairy said the disruption of supply was due to the total lockdown in China where most of the supply for active ingredients for pharmaceutical products are produced and the Russia-Ukraine war where one item, which is added to one pharmaceutical active ingredient, is produced.

“Other countries such as Australia and Singapore are also facing a shortage of supply.

“The high demand has led to the shortage of certain medicines, although local manufacturers have increased production of those medicines.

“Apart from that, imports of medicines have also been increased,” he said.

To ensure the country’s drug security and self-reliance in times of crisis, he said local pharmaceutical companies are encouraged to produce their own active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) through public-private partnerships.

Other initiatives taken include the development of the Pharmaceutical Track & Trace System and strengthening Asean partnership through the Asean Drug Security and Self Reliance Framework, which aims to improve access to medicines.

“A framework is being fine-tuned to develop strategic cooperation with major API-producing countries such as India and China, to guarantee the API supply in Malaysia, including during a crisis,” he noted.

Khairy was responding to a question by Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) on the ministry’s plan to create a National Medicines Security Policy and the extent of measures taken by the ministry to create a buffer stock of medicines in order to manage supply instability.