PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry does not face a shortage of insulin supply as it is still able to deliver until the end of the year, says Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
This was despite the ministry being made aware of a "shortage" after one of its providers was unable to meet contractual obligations, the Health Minister said.
“Yes, we are facing a shortage, but you know we have other alternatives particularly our analogues, inhibitors plus oral hypoglycaemic drugs or agents that are also available.
“So, we want to ensure that, despite the failure in supply, they still have to fulfil the contractual obligation, as such we are now talking to them again, they should be able to provide it, whether from the Johor plant or not.
“Besides that, we are also in communication with the Indian principle Biocon so that they can supply either from locally or overseas,” he told reporters, here on Monday (Aug 26).
He said this after witnessing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony for the Malaysia International Healthcare (MIH) Megatrends 2024, which features distinguished global healthcare experts, in partnership with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and other industry leaders.
The MIH Megatrends 2024 is organised by the Health Ministry in collaboration with KPJ Healthcare Bhd (KPJ Healthcare).
Also present at the event were Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and MCMC chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Salim Fateh Din and KPJ Healthcare president and managing director Chin Keat Chyuan.
Dzulkefly also assured that the shortage will not affect patient care where no one has been affected by not being prescribed human insulin.
At present, he said the ministry is not in crisis and waiting for other suppliers with those from overseas asked to put in their dossiers for registration with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
“We will go on the fast track of 60 days via NPRA as opposed to six months to expediate human insulin resources from other suppliers.
“The available supply is not depleted, in fact can last until the end of the year, so it is not an alarming kind of situation.
“It is an issue that was raised, not that we were aloof because we have been monitoring. But we are looking at another supplier, so we are negotiating, and there is commitment from others,” he said.
Separately on mpox, Dzulkefly gave his assurances that the government has strengthened its border controls and is on the alert.
As of Aug 25, the ministry has screened 31 people for suspected mpox, of that 25 have been negative while six cases are under surveillance, Dzulkefly said.
“We have activated all eight of our laboratories and alerted our National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) as well as sending regular circulars to all our healthcare facilities both in the public and private sectors.
“We are on the alert at our borders with Singapore and Thailand, but we are also on the lookout for those coming from Africa especially,” he said.
Last week, the Health Ministry released a statement to clarify that the recent disruption in the supply of human insulin at its local facilities was caused by production issues.
To ensure uninterrupted patient treatment, the ministry has implemented several measures, including increasing the use of analog insulin and oral therapies, as determined by the clinical assessments of the treating physicians for each patient.
It had said that out of the 41 medications included in the formulary for treating diabetes, only human insulin is facing supply issues.
