Pharmacy owner urges Tasmanians to be mindful of medicine supply chain

Pharmacists are the latest businesses to introduce purchase limits to prevent a shortage of medication.

Limits have been introduced on some over-the-counter medicines in Tasmanian pharmacies. Picture: AFP

THOUGH the majority of Tasmanians have kept calm in the state’s chemists, a past president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia said we still need to be mindful of the supply chain.

Shane Jackson is the owner of pharmacies at Lindisfarne, Nubeena and South Arm.

He said neither he nor his staff had seen any major hoarding, with most customers being polite and understanding of the circumstances.

“There’s no doubt there’s a bit of anxiety,” he said.

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“But the overwhelming majority of people have been quite calm and wanted to find out more information.

“We don’t seem to be having the same challenges we’re seeing on the mainland.”

He said with how busy pharmacies were getting, their main concern was the medicine supply chain.

“It’s only going to be a problem if people stockpile,” he said.

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“If you run out of toilet paper you might be able to knock on your neighbour’s door and ask to borrow some, but if you run out of your blood pressure tablets you can’t do that.

“You’ve got to be mindful of the supply chain, and Tasmanians I think have been very respectful of that.”

With that in mind, limits have been put in place on the sale of prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Only one month’s supply can be purchased for some medications, such as salbutamol inhalers, adrenaline autoinjectors, asthma medicines, insulins and oral hypoglycemics, and anti-epileptics.

Hand sanitiser already has been sold out in most shops around the country for weeks. Picture: ROHAN KELLY

A limit of one per person has been put in place on non-prescription medicines such as paracetamol, antihistamines, ibuprofen, aspirin, decongestants and lozenges.

“There is flexibility if someone is actually going away and needs it. But otherwise this is needed to stop stockpiling,” Dr Jackson said.

“It’s to make sure the people who need it can get it.

“My plea to people out there is to be sensible with medicine, and just have the supply that you need. If you have the supply you need, everyone will have the supply they need.”

He said another challenge pharmacies were facing was low stocks of hand sanitiser.

“Some pharmacies have been able to supply the raw ingredients to make hand sanitiser, but they’ve had to limit how much they can sell,” he said.

“You don’t actually need to use a lot of hand sanitiser. It’s for travelling, and then soap and water is for at home.

“For most people, 100ml of hand sanitiser could last a family close to a week.”