The armed conflict in the Middle East is causing the closure of the strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows. This creates a crisis in energy, gas, rising cost of healthcare and fuel markets all over the world. Oil prices rise sharply and because of that, fuel prices also rise which in turn affect the prices and causes supply chain disruption in nearly all commodities from food to medicines to clothing, housing, transportation, etc, etc. As medical and healthcare providers we are concerned more with the rising costs and disruption in supply chains of drugs and healthcare services.
Lately, the costs of medicines increased sharply and for various reasons. Some drugs became scarce and difficult to acquire. In trying to buy drugs from pharmacies the regularly available brands became out of stock. When asked about the regular brands previously used, the sales persons would reply, “That brand is out of stock but we have similar ones.” The customer now has to decide whether to buy the new similar drug, a new brand which may be quite unfamiliar. It does not really involve a decision if the “similar brand” is the only one available in the market and we have to take it.
Our concern now is to ensure that the new brand is an authentic one and not as it sometimes happened some drugs coming in over the border with no guarantee that it is really what it said it is. What we should do then is to look for the Myanmar Registration number on the package. Having a Myanmar Registration number would indicate that it had passed through Myanmar Food and Drug Authority and was passed for use by the public.
In passing, we should also be thinking about supplementing drug treatment with dietetic support too. For example, in treating Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy, in addition to prescribing drugs, advice should be given to take ripe tomatoes which contains a lot of Lycopene, a chemical which reduces inflammation of the prostate. It would give more satisfaction to the patient if the attending physician would give dietetic advice also. To be able to give such dietetic advice also by the General Practitioners an extra effort should be put in by them to learn about beneficial contents in vegetables and herbs. Including such information in the undergraduate medical curriculum should also be considered.
