Health Ministry Medical Supplies Division Deputy Director Dr.A.T.Sudarshana denied recent media reports that there is shortage of medicine for dengue fever stating that there are enough stocks of dengue vaccines in state hospitals to deal with dengue patients based on patient forecasts.
“In fact the ministry has a strong system in place to deal with dengue. We have enough vaccine stocks in hospitals to fight any increase in dengue, which commonly occur after monsoonal rains, “he said.
Dr.Sudarshana said that the ministry has a data-driven model that can predict dengue outbreaks ahead of weeks. “As a result, we are well prepared, and have dengue vaccines and medicine to deal with any outbreak,” he said.
“One must examine carefully why some sections would move to cause such panic along the lines of dengue at a time when the government has successfully dealt with the proportion of a severe disease like COVID.”
When asked if the Ministry has any dengue vials that are about to expire, he said that if someone orders a medical product that will expire in five years, it will expire on that day.
“But that does not mean the end of the world or the end of that medicine,” he said, “because we can place new orders, which the ministry has to do frequently to ensure the sustainability of the public’s health.”
“A shipment of dengue vaccines is expected to arrive in our country by December 11, or within the first two weeks of this month. It might have arrived already,” he said.
“We have placed an order with Thailand to import dengue vaccines. Importing medicine is a never-ending process,” he explained.
“In my opinion, they highlighted a non-existent scarcity of dengue vaccines in hospitals, as some private hospitals did not have that vaccine.”
“Rich or poor, they all come to government hospitals for dengue treatment because we are highly efficient and capable of treating dengue patients,” he noted.
“Private hospitals may not have dengue vaccines on hand because they do not see a high volume of dengue patients. So it’s possible that these hospitals don’t have these vaccines on hand,” he said.
courtesy dailynews
