No supply shortage of pharmaceutical products - Health Ministry
SHAH ALAM - The Health Ministry said pharmaceutical products are not experiencing shortage as there are alternatives for medicines from various brands in the market which could offer similar results.
The ministry’s pharmaceutical services senior director Norhaliza A Halim said manufacturers have also increased the production capacity to fulfill the high demand.
She said according to industry players, the sharp increase in demand was for several types of medicines such as paracetamol (used to treat fevers and mild pains), vitamin C, and cough and flu medicines for children.
The ministry, she said was in the midst of gathering feedbacks from industry players on the actual status of the supply of medicines which were produced in the country or the ones that were imported, and on other related issues.
She was responding to news reports which claimed that there was shortage of certain medications in the market.
Yesterday (Thursday), it was reported that Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai advised the public not to panic buy medicines due to the recent shortage of certain medications in the market.
He was reported to have said that the local industry had trouble meeting the demand because of the lack of raw materials and insufficient production capacity.
