Following the Chinese government’s decision to lift almost all its rigid COVID restrictions, the number of COVID cases are exploding in China.  As a result, people are stockpiling medicines and it affects the drug supply in its neighbouring countries.  Dr Hsueh Jui-Yuan, the MOHW Minister, warned about this wave of COVID outbreak in China.  Considering the number of Taiwanese expatriates currently living in China, Taiwan is likely to be affected by the medicine stockpiling behaviour across the Strait.   The MOHW has already instructed pharmacies to dissuade the public from buying drugs in bulk; but, no restriction will be placed at the moment, said the MOHW Minister.

Dr Hsueh attended a meeting of the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee of the Legislative Yuan and answered legislators’ questions.  Legislator Lai Hui-Yuan (DPP) mentioned that the drug hoarding behaviour in China is affecting Taiwan.  Considering the threat of winter flu, she asked if the MOHW would limit the export of medicine if the situation worsened.

Dr Hsueh replied that at present Taiwan has a stock of 54 million tablets of acetaminophen and just under 1 million tablets of ibuprofen, as well as sufficient APIs for both.  Therefore, the MOHW will now firstly ensure the supply to hospitals is sufficient; and this should be drug companies’ top priority. 

Legislator Lai asked whether this will make people visit hospitals for amassing medicines.  Dr Lee Po-Chang, the Director General of the NHIA, replied that all prescriptions are recorded and stored in the cloud-based database to prevent duplicate prescriptions.

Legislator Lai then asked whether the MOHW would provide humanitarian aid to China as a goodwill gesture.  Dr Hsueh said that it requires careful consideration due to the large number of infected cases in China.  At present, the MOHW’s top priority is to protect the people in Taiwan, and if there is a spare capacity for helping others, we will surely do so, said the MOHW Minister.

【2022-12-22 / United Daily】