A new procedure for organising the sale of medicines and other health products in community pharmacies will come into effect in Ciego de Avila on Monday 24 February.

The sale will take place on the basis of a schedule that will be ordered daily by the Family Doctor’s Offices according to distribution cycles, for a period of up to six days, depending on the number of offices associated with each community pharmacy.

The quantities to be sold per patient shall be in accordance with the coverage received and with what has been established according to the type of medicine, while the sale of exceptional cases outside the schedule shall be approved by the pharmacy administrations in conjunction with the representatives of the district or the People’s Council.

Luis Orlando Rico Martell, head of Medicines and Medical Technologies of the General Directorate of Health, explained that other priorities related to patients in vulnerable situations could be considered, always in conjunction with the municipal Health Directorates, and the factors of the district or the People’s Council.

Card-controlled medicines will also be sold in the same way in community pharmacies by the Family Doctor’s Offices. Once the purchase has been completed in the clinics planned for each distribution cycle, sales will be resumed on a first-come, first-served basis.

In fact, one of the premises of the new procedure is to contribute to the fulfilment of the plan of measures to minimise the impact of shortages and low coverage, as well as the illegal sale of medicines, with adequate communication assurance of the new organisational system, including mechanisms for its systematic control.

According to Dulce María Fernández Martínez, director general of the Provincial Pharmacy and Optical Company, the new distribution will begin gradually on Monday 24 February in the southern zone in the municipalities of Baraguá, Venezuela, Ciego de Ávila, Ciro Redondo and Majagua, while the same procedure will be implemented in the northern zone, starting on 3 March, in the municipalities of Primero de Enero, Bolivia, Morón, Florencia and Chambas.

This measure is aimed at eradicating hoarding, as well as speculation by dealers and resellers, who profit from shortages, especially of medicines in high demand such as antibiotics and painkillers, and others that are urgent.

The organisation of the new procedure in the province will be temporary, as in the rest of the country, until a stable supply of raw materials is re-established to guarantee the volumes of basic products, and thus meet the demands of the population.