Ministry of Health and Welfare addresses medicine shortages

2023-02-27

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Monday held a press conference to address matters related to a recent medicine shortage in Taiwan. Patients and pharmacists say as many as 88 different kinds of drugs are currently in short supply in Taiwan. The ministry said the cause was global production problems as well as an uptick in respiratory disease cases in Taiwan. It advised the general public to switch to medications with the same active components for the time being if possible.

Over the past few days, pharmacies in Taiwan have been swept by medicine shortages. The Ministry of Health and Welfare explains why.

Victor Wang
Ministry of Health and Welfare
Machine malfunctions have caused a global shortage of this particular drug. But it’s been fixed now, so we expect imports to Taiwan will resume in early March.

For example, production of proton pump inhibitor lansoprazole had been halted due to technical issues, which have now been resolved. Amid reports that some patients were reluctant to accept drug substitutes during the shortage, an FDA official had this to say.

Wu Hsiu-mei
Food and Drug Administration
You shouldn’t think that only the original medication you were taking is effective. Taiwan’s drug factories are all PIC/S GMP compliant. That’s a really high standard for production. All the medicines produced in Taiwan are just as good as the ones produced at the original factories.

The health ministry said it would establish a drug shortage center to make medicine distribution more efficient and convenient.

Victor Wang
Ministry of Health and Welfare
The shortage is spreading to more types of medications. It’s more diverse. By working together across agencies, offices, departments and even ministries, we can address these import problems. We need to bring all these together, and not just have the Food and Drug Administration dealing with the matter on its own.

The health ministry said the shortage prevention center would work with users such as patients, pharmacies, clinics and hospitals and collect feedback from associations. It will also negotiate with manufacturers and government agencies to offer timely updated on the situation.

解15品項缺藥問題王必勝親上火線說明

2023-02-27

全台88項藥品缺藥，患者和社區藥師怨聲載道，衛福部週一說明，缺藥原因包含全球性缺藥和國內呼吸道感染增加等，針對缺藥的15項藥品提出改善措施，並呼籲民眾先改用替代藥品「會有相同療效」。

全台藥品大缺貨，缺藥話題連續燒了好幾天，衛福部解釋缺藥原因。

[[衛福部次長王必勝]]
“機器故障導致全球性的一個缺藥，它機器已經修復了，預計三月初會進口到台灣來。”

舉例這款抑制產生胃酸的藥物，根本是製造廠發生問題，但目前都已解決。只怕患者原本的藥吃習慣，不願意用替代藥物，食藥署再次呼籲。

[[食藥署長吳秀梅]]
“不要覺得只有原來在吃的藥品，才能夠達到它治療的效果，其實以台灣的藥廠，我們都是PIC/S GMP的，這個是一個標準非常高的，我們製造的規格。台灣所製造的這些藥品，其實它拿出來使用，絕對是跟原廠是一樣的。”

衛福部也允諾擴大成立缺藥中心，擴大增加效率，讓藥品調度更方便。

[[衛福部次長王必勝]]
“我們現在缺藥的這些樣態，越來越多種、越來越多元。跨署、司、處，或甚至是跨部會，因為有些是進口的問題，這些我們把它納入來做，而不是單純只是食藥署一個署的處理方式。”

王必勝指出，防缺藥中心會涵蓋幾個面向，「使用端」包括民眾、藥局、診所等醫療院所，還有「公協會」等代表的意見，加上國內外「藥廠」及「政府部門」，盼能夠有效率傳遞訊息。