Gov’t works to stop the shortage of essential drugs

“Let's stop the out-of-stock of essential drugs” ... Government begins to improve Korea’s policy and organizational structure

Starts research on improvement measures such as the method of designating essential drugs, the operation of a ministry council, and preferential measures

Plans to alleviate the supply insecurity of essential drugs such as cold medicine and antipyretics by revamping the outdated essential drug system

The government will come up with improvement measures within this year to eradicate and alleviate the instability in the supply of national essential drugs, which has been occurring frequently since the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The government plans to begin the groundwork for overhauling the entire system, including the method for designating national essential drugs, the operation of the council of relevant government ministries and agencies, and government policy support and preferential measures for stable supply.

 

This is done by examining the current status of the essential drug systems in major countries overseas and seeking ways to improve the stability of supply based on an analysis of the current status of Korea’s operation of the essential medicine system.

 

On the 6th, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it would begin research on ways to collaborate on the classification and stable supply of essential medicines.

 

This is a response to the growing risk of health security crises and the increasing frequency of shortages of essential drugs such as cold medicines that arose as countries around the world have adopted a national drug policy centered on their own countries since the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Since 2017, the government has designated and managed drugs that are essential for medical sites such as disease control and radiation disaster prevention, and therefore must be supplied stably as national essential medicines.

 

The Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Food and Drug Safety designate the essential medicines in consultation with the heads of relevant central administrative agencies.

 

However, as front-line pharmacies are constantly experiencing difficulties in obtaining essential medicines, citizens are repeatedly unable to purchase essential drugs such as cold medicine and fever reducers when they need them.

 

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety examines the purpose of the essential medicine system in advanced pharmaceutical countries and investigates the classification method by type, such as the nature of the product and its intended use.

 

The plan is to look into the current state of the system, including the selection criteria, procedures, and collection of advisory opinions, and analyze the current use of policy support and preferential measures for the stable supply of essential medicines, as well as the current state of operation of organizations such as selection and advisory councils and committees.

 

Based on this, the research team will seek direction for the advancement of Korea's national essential drug policy.

 

As the number of national essential medicines that were first designated around government stockpiles has gradually increased to include items that require a stable supply in the private medical field, the overall goal is to find improvement measures that reflect the characteristics of each national essential medicine.

 

Afterward, the government will prepare a plan to improve the criteria for designating national essential medicines, review the classification plan by use, and come up with a plan to reorganize the list, as well as an operational plan to maintain its suitability in the field.

 

The research will comprehensively review the necessity of each product in the product group when designating and re-evaluating national essential medicines.

 

In addition, it will consider the need to distinguish the system from similar systems and review the scope of designation and exclusion of national essential medicines.

 

Ultimately, it will establish a plan for reorganizing and operating the Stable Supply Council and Sub-Council to facilitate discussions on the designation of national essential medicines and stable supply.

 

The MFDS explained, “We will identify the government policy tools and the collaboration needs with relevant ministries and agencies that can be used to enable the council to determine and implement policies for the stable supply of essential medicines.

 

We will also identify the improvements needed to strengthen the capacity to support the stable supply of national essential medicines, and find ways to strengthen the human and material infrastructure for this.”