The New Brunswick College of Pharmacists is making clear its disappointment of the reversal of the decision to temporarily restrict refills.
Sam Lanctin the registrar of the New Brunswick College of Pharmacists, said the college had issued the directive to only issue 30 day supplies of prescriptions.
“This was meant to help prevent broad shortages right across the board. So the government issued as part of its mandatory order on Thursday, that it was rescinding the direction given to its members by the college,” he said.
The college, established to govern and regulated the practice of pharmacy in New Brunswick, limited refills to 30 days due to shaky international supply chains.
“Most of the drugs that come to Canada are coming from China and India and of course, they’ve been dealing with the crisis themselves and a lot of the production was slowed,” he said.
According to a release from the college, in the early days of the pandemic, the demand for prescription drugs increased more than 200% due to stockpiling. From that information came the decision to limit refills so as to prevent new shortages.
“It was a step that was taken by not only New Brunswick but by just about every province in the country to try to help stabilize the drug supply chain,” he said.
Lanctin said an unintended consequence of this direction is that some people will be paying more often to refill their prescriptions.
He said New Brunswickers can help by voluntarily opting for 30-day refills instead of 60 or 90 days.
“New Brunswickers can help drug supplies by resisting the urge to hoard medications and to maintain 30-day refills for the time being if this is a valid option for them. We would encourage them to do so to help during this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.”
Lanctin said the college wants to be part of a solution where people don’t have to go without prescriptions. and they plan on working with the premier on that.
