THE supply of over-the-counter medications seems to have stabilised just before the Hari Raya festive season starts, Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society president Amrahi Buang said.

He said although there was fear of a new Covid-19 wave in January, medicine supply has stabilised with no reports of shortages made to the group.

“I did a check with pharmacies across the country. There is no report of shortage of medicine,” Amrahi told The Malaysian Insight.

“Although there were alarms of an increase in (Covid-19) infections, we didn’t see a rush or panic-buying of medicine.

“Compared to a few months back, the supply has been better. One should be able to buy over-the-counter medicine without any problem.”

The shortage of over-the-counter or non-prescription medicine has been a problem since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several reasons, including high demand for over-the-counter drugs, supply chain disruptions and scaled-down production during the pandemic, had led to the shortage in the country.

Last December, Amrahi admitted that pharmacies in the country continued to face a shortage of medicine but the situation was manageable.

He said shortages only involved certain brands as generic and other brands were still available.

Non-prescription drugs such as paracetamol, cough syrup, antibiotics and medication for food poisoning and allergies are usually purchased at pharmacies.

Be well-prepared for festive season

Since there is no shortage reported and with Hari Raya fast approaching, Amrahi urged the public to get the necessary medications ready but not to hoard them.

“When they travel long distances, do not have enough sleep, eat excessively during the festive season and so on, they would need some medicine,” he said.

“There’s nothing wrong in being prepared, but we advise people not to hoard medicine. Buy what is necessary and what is needed.”

Amrahi also encouraged those visiting the elderly or those in the high-risk group to self-test for Covid-19.

“I think doing a Covid-19 test prior to visiting the elderly and those in the high-risk group is a good practice.

“This is to protect the people they are visiting and prevent the spread of Covid-19. It’s just better to be safe than sorry.”

He also urged those showing any symptom to use masks and sanitise their hands regularly.

Covid-19 has yet to be declared endemic by the World Health Organization.

However, in order to allow all economic sectors to resume, Malaysia has entered into the “transition to endemic” phase since April 1 last year.

Over the past two weeks, daily Covid-19 infections have been on the rise with figures edging closer to four digits. – April 12, 2023.