Dzulkefly: Medicine, medical device supply remains stable despite global shortage

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has assured that Malaysia’s supply of medicines and medical devices remains stable despite global shortages and supply chain pressures.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the management of the situation was being driven by data rather than panic, with proactive measures in place to ensure continuity of patient care is not affected.

In a post on X, he said as of May 8, 71.9 per cent of medicines and 81.7 per cent of medical devices in the country were classified as low risk.

“For high-risk medicines and medical devices, various mitigation measures are being implemented to ensure stable and sufficient supplies,” he added.

Dzulkefly said the ministry was also diversifying its supply sources through a special task force reviewing import supply chains in strategic collaboration with countries including China, Japan and Uzbekistan.

He said that Malaysia was also strengthening local production capacity, adding that the recent hypochlorous acid (HOCl) shortage had been fully resolved by local suppliers.

The Off-take Plus Agreement programme has also been activated to support domestic medicine manufacturing.

“Our main focus is the continuity of patient treatment. We will continue to monitor and carry out immediate interventions when necessary. We will not compromise on the people’s health,” he said.

Dzulkefly also thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for his continued commitment and concern over public healthcare issues.

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المصدر: New Straits Times