The Federation of Japan Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association (JPWA) and an association of drug distributors in Ishikawa Prefecture on January 9 requested pharma companies to provide needed medicines to quake-hit central Japan areas on a priority basis.
Since a great deal of efforts are being made to secure the supply of products under shipment restrictions, they asked for the prioritized provisioning of these products as well as other needed drugs to the disaster areas.
The request was issued to the Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Associations of Japan (FPMAJ) as well as individual drug makers. Pharma companies told the wholesaler groups that they would do their best to meet the request, according to the Ishikawa association.
On January 10, the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) issued a statement vowing to strive for the stable supply of needed medicines to the affected regions in collaboration with the FPMAJ and wholesaler partners in order to meet the requests of relevant municipalities and medical organizations as well as the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Emergency Dispensing Scheme Now in Place
Meanwhile, an emergency dispensing scheme has been introduced in Ishikawa Prefecture. Prescriptions issued by six public hospitals in the northern and central part of the Noto Peninsula can now be filled by a pharmacy in Kanazawa, the capital of the prefecture.
In this scheme, launched on January 5, prescriptions are faxed from the hospital to the pharmacy, and then dispensed medicines are delivered to each hospital via wholesalers with medication guidance provided by pharmacists over the phone or by other means.
As of noon on January 9, only 13 of the 31 pharmacies in the northern part of the peninsula, the area hardest hit by the earthquake, were operational to fill prescriptions.