Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeWeekly RoundupProvinces hoping to give chronic patients 3-4 months' supply of medicines

Provinces hoping to give chronic patients 3-4 months' supply of medicines

Four provinces – Gauteng, the North West, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – have made positive moves to announce that patients on chronic medicines will be able to have their prescriptions filled for as long as three to four months in order to minimise their exposure to possible the COVID-19 coronavirus infection in public spaces like clinics.

But, reports City Press, in practice, it is unlikely that all patients will immediately be able to pick up a three-month supply of their medicines throughout all facilities by their next collection date. Officials from the national Health Department say that in balancing stock levels and managing logistics in a time of the COVID-19 national lockdown multi-month script refills across the board will not be a reality, even though it is being assessed for implementation.

“The biggest fear from patients has been that the facility where they usually pick up their medicines will be closed due to the national lockdown so we did see people flocking to some of their collection points after the president’s announcement,” says Maggie Munsamy, head of the Centralised Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) at the Health Department. Munsamy says that the key message is for patients to continue to pick up their medicines from their preferred channel – clinics, fast lane, the CCMDD or other suppliers – on their scheduled collection dates.

[link url="https://city-press.news24.com/Voices/some-chronic-patients-to-be-given-enough-pills-for-3-4-months-20200328"]Full City Press report[/link]

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