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| Flu Drugs Shortages in Rangoon |
| Monday, July 27, 2009 |
RANGOON—While stocks of preventive medicines for influenza are diminishing in Rangoon, prices are soaring, with anti-seasonal flu injections costing up to 200,000 kyat (US $200) at some clinics.
Imported prophylactic drugs such as "Tamiflu" and "Vaxigrip," which are commonly used as preventative medicines against seasonal influenza (virus types A and B), are in high demand because of the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 11.
Since Burma’s Health Ministry officially announced the incidence of swine flu infections in some people returning from abroad, some Rangoon residents have rushed to buy prophylactic flu medicines in panic, causing prices to sky-rocket, sources close to Rangoon-based drug companies said.
Normally, a vial of seasonal anti-flu prophylactic, which can used for injections, sells for 18,000 kyat ($18), the sources said. However, in recent days, pharmacies and medical supply stores have raised the price to between 50,000 and 100,000 kyat ($50 - $100).
At markets where previously Tamiflu was selling for 50,000 kyat per 10-capsule box, it is now priced at $60 to $100.
However, the “flu fear factor” has attracted some of the most unscrupulous elements in Rangoon who are using the pandemic for profit.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy, a medical practitioner from Shwe Bon Tha Street said, “"Vaxigrip is just an immunization medicine for normal influenza, but it is being sold to the public as a prophylactic to swine flu.”
A government doctor confirmed that well-off families in Rangoon are buying Vaxigrip and injection shots from private clinics in the belief it will protect them from swine flu.
"In most of hospitals and clinics, prophylactic medicines for swine flu are running out now and some manipulative clinics are making profits from the situation, by injecting vaccines at 100,000 to 200,000 kyat a doze,” he said.
Some well-known private hospitals and clinics, such as Asia Taw-Win, Shwe Gon Taing, Ba-Ho-Si, Sakura and Pan Hlaing, are reportedly in shortage of anti-flu medicines.
"But you can get so-called anti-flu injections at clinics on Mogul (Shwe Bon Thar) Street for 200,000 kyat a shot," a general physician claimed.
Thet Pai Soe Company is the sole agent for importing Vaxigrip, a French-made flu-shot for seasonal influenza, but an official from the company said it couldn't handle the demand and could import any more this year.
Meanwhile, a physician from Rangoon General Hospital warned that any swine-flu drugs should be taken under supervision of a respected doctor and that the public should be aware that the drugs have several side effects.
"The drug must be taken in accordance with a physician's prescription,” he said. “The drugs often cause side effects such as lethargy, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and weakness.”
In recent weeks, the first case of swine flu infection was found in Burma in a 13-year-old girl, who was returning from Singapore. There are now a total of four cases in the country, the Health Ministry has said, but to date no one has died from the disease.
irrawaddy |
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moderator
Copyright, respective author or news agency
 4:33 AM   |
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"who put family second to country, who for her convictions made an unbearable choice—not to see her sons grow and not to be with her husband as he lost his life to a long and painful cancer. Suu Kyi, with an idea too big for any jail and a spirit too strong for any army, changes our view — as only real heroes can — of what we believe to be possible."BONO
