Efforts are underway to replenish the stocks of medicine in the market, the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) said on Saturday, Jan. 8

In the “Laging Handa” public briefing, PHAP Vice President Jannette Jakosalem said that only specific brands of drugs in several branches are temporarily out of stock and efforts are ongoing to replenish it.

“Ang obserbasyon po namin ay nagkakaroon nga ng temporary out of stock situation sa mga mangilan-ilan na botika natin at para doon sa selected na brands – usually ay mga brand po ng paracetamol (Our observations is that there is a temporary out of stock situation in a few of our pharmacies and for those selected brands – usually paracetamol brand),” said Jakosalem.

“Ongoing po ‘yung replenishment, pero kapag bigla naman kasing taas ng bili o requirement ng gamot talagang minsan po ay ‘di maiiwasan na maubusan ng stock sa botika (The replenishment is ongoing, but sometimes, when the demand or requirement of the drug becomes high, it is inevitable that some pharmacy will run out of stock),” she added.

Jakosalem likewise reiterated that the generic drugs are as equally effective as the branded ones.

“Parehas lang po ang effectivity nyan. Sinisigurado naman po ng Food and Drug Administration (FDA) natin na hindi nila ia-approve ang pagbebenta ng mga gamot kung hindi ‘yan dumaan sa masusing testing (The effectiveness is the same. Our FDA makes sure that they will not approve the sale of the drug if it does not pass thorough testing),” she reiterated.

In order to prevent the consumption of fake medicines, Jakosalem advised the public to buy medicines only from licensed drugstores.