SA hurdles spark medicine crisis in Namibia

JANA-MARI SMITH

WINDHOEK



Urgent work by private and government parties is underway to address an import crisis that has led to depletion or severe scarcities of a wide range of chronic and specialist medicine in Namibia.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, export regulation amendments were introduced in neighbouring South Africa, where the medicine is sourced, in March.

“We are experiencing a shortage of medicine in the country which I, in my more than 20 years of practice, have never experienced before,” Ulrich Ritter, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Namibia, said.

Just last week, South African authorities rejected more than 100 permits for exports of medicine into Namibia, he said.





At one point, he said, of more than 60 products ordered by his pharmacy, only eight were received.



Significant and worrying

South Africa's new regulations around the export of medicines has changed the average time it takes for goods to arrive in Namibia and created additional permit application hurdles.

And, while pharmacists have worked together to share available medicines and increased the amount of stock held on-site to compensate for shortages, this has burdened the entire supply chain – amidst an already struggling economic situation.

Ritter stressed that the interruption of available medicine for patients reliant on chronic or specialised medicine is significant and worrying.



Ministry aware

Finance ministry spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu last week confirmed that the ministry is aware of the problem, with the health industry forum requesting urgent intervention.

“The problem is not with our customs but on the side of South Africa, because of the new regulations by the South African Revenue Services (SARS), which requires distributors of medicines and certain identified items to apply for a permit from the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) to export medicines to other neighbouring countries,” Shidhudhu explained.

He added that the ministry is taking the matter “very seriously”.

“We are currently engaging with SARS to find amicable solutions.”



Tricky

The import problems are two-fold, those in the know explain.

The new ITAC export control regulations muddled the waters concerning certain categories of medicine and the permits required to import them into Namibia.

Moreover, SARS requires further permit documentation, which has added to the red tape.

In addition, once the problems began, the lockdown regulations in both South Africa and Namibia added to the problem.

The most worrisome challenges for health professionals and patients are the scarcity and depletion of chronic and specialist medicines related to HIV, blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, contraception and mood disorder treatments.



'Practically no medicine coming in'

“We are trying to remain positive, but for the past eight weeks, there has been practically no medicine coming in. Last week, we started getting some of the medicines, and we are trying to remain hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon,” a spokesperson for

Nampharm said last Monday.

“We pharmacists have created WhatsApp groups where we can alert each other to medicinal needs, and invariably someone can help.

“But it's a very worrying problem, and with some medicines, there are no substitutes. When changing a patient's medicine, you don't know how they will react,” a pharmacist said.