As a shortage of medicines grips the country, the head of Tasmania's pharmacy guild has called for an easing of rules that require pharmacists to seek permission from doctors before supplying an alternative medicine.
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Helen O'Byrne, president of the Tasmanian branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, said pharmacists are having trouble sourcing a wide range of medicines, including antibiotics.
"But it's not just confined to antibiotics, we are experiencing shortages of many other medications, including hormone replacement therapies and some diabetic medications," she said.
Nearly all the medicines hit with shortages have alternatives, she said.
But substituting medicines to patients requires pharmacists to discuss the alternative with the doctor, which can be a time-consuming process.
"What we'd like the TGA to do is enable pharmacists to make substitutions when necessary," Ms O'Byrne said.
"They don't have the legal authority to do that, they have to defer to the doctor, and especially at this time of year the doctor is often not available," she said.
Dr John Saul, Tasmanian president of the Australian Medical Association, agreed that finding substitutes was a time-consuming process, but he said the rules were in place for a good reason.
He said the TGA had already introduced rules allowing pharmacists to substitute some medicines known to be in short supply without reference to doctors.
"If the communication trails are in place between pharmacies and GPs, we shouldn't need to relax rules anymore - they're there for a reason which is to make sure we have safety in our system," he said.
A spokesman for the Therapeutic Goods Administration attributed the delays to shortages of raw materials, logistical delays, as well as some batches of medicines not meeting required standards.
The TGA has a list of 391 medicines in short supply, including 44 in critically short supply. It added two more to that critical list this week - a liquid antibiotic and a drug used to treat muscle disease.
"Whilst pharmaceutical companies do their best to maintain supply... situations can arise where a disruption to the supply of a medicine cannot be avoided."
Asmita Kayastha, pharmacist in charge at Pharmacy 4 Less in Burnie, said the delays have been frustrating to work with.
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