Government limits purchases of fever and flu meds as retailers run out of stock
MANILA, Philippines — The departments of health and of trade and industry have set a purchase limit on basic medicines to try to give more people access to them as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Joint Memorandum Circular No. 22-01 "enjoins" retailers to limit sales of 500 mg tablets of Paracetamol to 20 per person or at 60 per household.
Phenylephrine hydrochloride + Chlorpheniramine Maleate + Paracetamol tablets and Carbocisteine capsules also have the same purchase limits.
Suspensions of those medicines (120 mg/5 ml, 60 ml and 250 mg/5 ml, 60 ml) are capped at five per person and 10 per household.
The JMC notes that a "sudden surge" of flu-like illnesses as well as of COVID-19 cases has "resulted in an unusual demand for, and possible hoarding [by] consumers of, over-the-counter medicines for fever and flu-like symptoms." It said that this has led to retailers running out of stock of these medicines.
The departments said that the purchase caps are meant to give Filipinos better access to these basic medicines.
It also warned against online selling of medicines "unless otherwise allowed by the [Food and Drug Administration] under existing rules and regulations."
People and establishments found to have violated the JMC will be held liable under the Price Act, Consumer Act of the Philipines and other laws, the departments said.
The JMC comes about a week since the Department of Health advised the public against hoarding medicines amid a shortage that it said did not exist.
"The DOH would like to assure the public that while there is an observed increased demand for such products, there is no ongoing shortage in the Philippines," the DOH said then.
"Paracetamol has many generic alternatives in the market, which are available in many drug stores nationwide," it also said.
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