Talking Point: Stop stockpiling medication, because pharmacies can cope

JOHN DOWLING: One-month limits averted disaster — and we must do more

EASE UP: Panic-buying has left supermarket shelves empty is now leading to stockpiling of medications, which will have disastrous effects if we don’t stop it.

It’s understandable Australians are anxious about the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), especially when they’re seeing bare supermarket shelves, scrums in the toilet paper aisles, and never-before seen levels of stockpiling on television and in the papers.

But it needs to stop.

The fact the Prime Minister was forced to remind us to look out for other Australians who equally need to look after their families is a frightening but fair assessment of the precarious position we are in.

“Stop hoarding. Just stop it. It’s not who we are. It’s ridiculous. Do the right thing by each other. Don’t abuse staff,” Scott Morrison told us.

The advice from our leaders and health experts is clear.

We have the supplies for people to get what they need but we need to leave some for others, especially the most vulnerable members of our society. The images of empty shelves show people have not listened. We need to stop over-buying. There is just no need to do it.

As a community pharmacist, it’s been distressing to see this panic-buying spill over into people trying to stockpile medications. Tasmanian pharmacists often battle medicine shortages, but we can handle that. What we can’t handle is people buying up unnecessarily — and while none of the pharmacists I spoke with ran into additional shortages because of COVID-19, it was only a matter of time.

If people bought what they needed, when they needed it, we wouldn’t run out of medication.

To make sure of that, the Pharmacy Guild is speaking with Health Minister, Greg Hunt — sometimes multiple times a day — as well as other stakeholders.

Hoarding medications is destructive to everyone and could have resulted in people, whose survival depends on certain medications, not having what they need.

Because people continued to hoard medication despite advice from government and healthcare experts, the Pharmacy Guild worked with the Health Minister to introduce new limits on how much people can buy at once.

These new measures mean you can only get one month’s supply of prescription medication and pharmacists will only dispense either one month’s supply or one unit of all other over-the-counter medication. That means, for example, one bottle of Panadol syrup per person, one asthma puffer per person, and one pack of cholesterol-lowering medication.

Because of these sensible measures, if you go to your local pharmacy and the medication you need is out of stock, it’s only temporary.

In cases where there is an urgent need for a prescription to be filled, a community pharmacist will help patients find remaining stock.

Had we not done this, people across Tasmania — and the country — would’ve lost their lives for the trivial fact that somebody else took more medication than they needed. We could not have stood by and allow this to have happened.

Despite these being steps in the right direction, there is still more that can be done.

Pharmacists need to be able to substitute medication where necessary to make sure people are getting their medication at the right dosage.

Currently, if a doctor prescribes a patient 20mg of medicine, a pharmacist can only dispense a tablet with 20mg of the active ingredient. If the 20mg tablet is out of stock, we can’t dispense two 10mg tablets to make sure our patient has the dose they need.

This is low-hanging fruit to further reduce the risk of patients not getting the medicine they need, when they need it.

Uncertainty is the only thing we can be certain of during this time, but it does not mean we have the right to disregard our communal values for the benefit of ourselves.

The panic-buying and hoarding that has left supermarket shelves empty is now leading to stockpiling of medications, which will have disastrous effects if we don’t stop it. Right now, we need to look after our fellow Australians, and in the lead up to Anzac Day, perhaps it’s a timely reminder of our Australian fighting spirit during times of hardship. We look out for, and after our mates. Let’s start looking after each other and helping others out because that’s what we do well, that’s the Australian way.

John Dowling is a community pharmacist and President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia — Tasmania Branch.