The shortage of high-cost medicines continues in Colombia

Colombia faces a serious crisis in the supply of medicines that has affected the population and has sparked a series of debates around the causes and solutions.

This situation is not new and has been increasing since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Health and the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima), the shortage persists and worries the nation.

Invima has identified multiple reasons that explain the shortage of medicines in the country. First of all, the increase in demand is noted, attributed in part to the covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the price regulation of some drugs by the Ministry of Health has led to such an increase in demand and a decrease in the economic interest of drug manufacturers.

Other reasons include insufficient suppliers, lack of information from health registration holders, problems in the acquisition of raw materials (due to the lack of a local pharmacochemical industry), and problems in manufacturing.

One controversial reason is the possibility that some health registration holders deliberately create shortages to increase their profits by selling medicines through commercial rather than institutional channels.

To better understand this complex situation, we consulted medical and health experts. Epidemiologist Claudia Vaca, consulted by El Colombiano, suggests that although the sale of medicines through institutional and commercial channels is different, she does not believe that the shortage is deliberate to obtain additional profits.

The former director of Medicines and Health Technology of the Ministry of Health, Leonardo Arregocés, does not consider that Invima has the competence to make this statement and highlights that demand has grown faster than the capacity of managers to acquire and produce medicines.

Researcher Alejandra Taborda points to difficulties in marketing and the lack of suppliers in some areas as possible causes of the shortage.

The flow of money in the health system is crucial to guarantee the supply of medicines. Health Promotion Entities (EPS) partner with pharmaceutical managers to provide medications to members. However, the lack of resources has led to delays in payments and considerable debts, which has aggravated the crisis, as explained by El Colombiano.

The Ministry of Health and Invima have implemented a monitoring system for the supply of medicines and have urged the actors in the system to generate reports that allow appropriate measures to be taken. Despite some degree of cooperation, not all guilds have complied with this request.

Among the causes identified are the increase in demand, restrictions in contracting between EPS and managers, problems in the delivery of orders, ongoing procedures in Invima, problems in the acquisition of raw materials, lack of interest from the industry in marketing certain low-profit but essential products for health, commercial conflicts between manufacturers and distributors, and shortages of some commercial brands despite the availability of medicines with the same composition on the market.

The Ministry of Health is working with the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce to address market-related issues. Pharmaceutical unions and independent laboratories express their concern about the decrease in sales.

Invima, as the central entity for managing drug shortage alerts, plays an important role in resolving this crisis. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Invima will continue to monitor the situation and expect greater transparency in the reporting of supply chain actors. With Infobae

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