The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for a new body to better manage future medicine shortages.
AMA President Danielle McMullen said a new dedicated forum could provide ongoing advice on upcoming shortages and solutions and significantly improve communication.
Dr McMullen said medicine shortages affected many people in the community, including doctors, pharmacists and patients.
“The TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) does a good job of managing medicine shortages and discontinuations, which we know can be very unpredictable, but there is room for improvement, and the TGA has recognised this,” she said.
“One issue that persists is the challenge of timely, accurate and consistent communication regarding medicine shortages.”
Dr McMullen said a medicines shortage forum that met regularly could ensure the TGA’s processes were more proactive and better prepared to respond to medicine shortages.
She said a dedicated forum, consisting of key groups representing medicine, pharmacy, wholesalers and sponsors, could replace the ad-hoc action groups that were normally formed in response to specific shortages.
“We appreciate the nature of medicine shortages are unpredictable, but this is about giving us the best possible chance to respond to supply disruptions, which remain prevalent in the post-Covid era.”
