Gray Andy
Division of Pharmacology, Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Australas Med J. 2014 May 31;7(5):208-12. doi: 10.4066/AMJ.2014.1932. eCollection 2014.
Although medicines shortages are a persistent and challenging problem for all health systems, the reasons for such shortages vary considerably between settings. Understanding the range of problems encountered, and the specific reasons for each medicines shortage event, may help to identify the most appropriate systems-wide responses. South Africa's health system is, at this point, still clearly divided between a better-resourced private sector and an overwhelmed public sector. Medicines selection and procurement processes in the two sectors are markedly different. However, in both sectors there is a dearth of publicly accessible information about the incidence and consequences of medicines shortages. This brief report describes the medicines selection and procurement processes currently applied in South Africa's public health sector, and then describes the nature of the medicines shortages that have been experienced in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial health services between July 2012 and June 2013. The degree to which these shortages might have been managed differently, had the recommendations developed by the International Pharmaceutical Federation Summit on Medicines Shortages been implemented, is then explored.
尽管药品短缺对所有卫生系统来说都是一个长期存在且具有挑战性的问题，但不同环境下出现此类短缺的原因差异很大。了解所遇到问题的范围以及每次药品短缺事件的具体原因，可能有助于确定全系统最恰当的应对措施。目前，南非卫生系统在资源较为充足的私营部门和不堪重负的公共部门之间仍存在明显分化。两个部门的药品选择和采购流程显著不同。然而，两个部门都缺乏关于药品短缺发生率和后果的公开可用信息。本简要报告描述了南非公共卫生部门目前采用的药品选择和采购流程，接着阐述了2012年7月至2013年6月期间夸祖鲁 - 纳塔尔省卫生服务部门所经历的药品短缺的性质。然后探讨了如果国际制药联合会药品短缺问题峰会提出的建议得以实施，这些短缺在多大程度上可能会得到不同的处理。
