A great hope had meant the trait of lucidity reflected by President López Obrador when he scold his Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer, and the head of Insabi, Juan Ferrer, for the endless shortage of medicines. But barely 24 hours we were happy because the next day the president sought to retract.
The good thing is that it has already been exposed that the decision-makers of this administration are clear about the problem and can no longer wash their hands or point out the sick or the parents of children with cancer as coup leaders who continue to demand therapies for their children.
But if they really took the seriousness of the matter seriously, they should not only hurry with the purchase of therapies by 2022, as the statement issued by Insabi, Unops and Salud says, but stop clinging to the alternative schemes that they have already demonstrated. evidently they have not worked. And we only mention three: buying abroad, forcing manufacturers to sell directly, and bypassing specialized distributors.
If the 4T were to remove ideological prejudices and turn towards the national pharmaceutical industry willing to collaborate to find solutions, plan better and put order in the processes; if the expertise and infrastructure of specialized distributors were once again used by putting all the padlocks on them to avoid corruption; And if Cofepris were unmounted and regulated the medical supplies sector without those prejudices that keep it on the defensive against any national production company, it would be something else.
If this administration is really interested in solving the shortage of medicines, in particular in oncological generics, it is time for Cofepris to put the batteries and quickly reactivate its stopped procedures such as the certificates of good manufacturing practices, which reactivates its customs inspectors paralyzed for the simple reason that their credentials are not up-to-date, which expedites import permits and so many other procedures bogged down in relation to the entry of substantial raw material to produce vital drugs such as psychiatric ones.
It is inconceivable that Cofepris continues to refuse to verify the national plants with the capacity to produce all those medicines that Insabi and UNOPS continue to buy abroad, including those of the Jalisco-based Pisa. It is inconceivable that we have had a shortage of oncology for 3 years in Mexico and meanwhile in Mexico City a Pisa plant is still closed – which does not remove the stigma – where these treatments could be manufactured quickly and without major problem. President López Obrador does not lift the unintelligible punishment of that Jalisco company: Cofepris, obedient, simply does not allow it to reopen the plant in CdMx that closed in 2019, nor does it verify the new world-class plant built in Guadalajara with the capacity to supply not only all the oncological generics of Mexico, but of Latin America.
But in addition, this stigma extends to other national pharmaceutical companies with a high level and capacity to produce with quality. There are not a few Mexican laboratories with large plants that, with a little support, would have the capacity to supply and solve the shortage of oncologicals and other types of generics that add up to years of shortage in Mexican territory.
It is not possible to understand why so much closure, blindness and arrogance against an industry when it could be the solution to a problem so costly for many patients and for the country due to the loss and deterioration of valuable lives of children, youth and adults in the face of the shortage of treatments.
Today Mexico is sadly wasting its own pharmaceutical industrial infrastructure developed for decades that has proven to be highly capable and competitive, and today forced by circumstances is already turning to look abroad. It will be very positive if we begin to increase exports of medicines and healing materials to other markets, but it will be regrettable that in the meantime, public buyers of these supplies here continue to seek to source from companies abroad. In fact, what is already happening in the medical device industry will be replicated. The Mexican Association of Innovative Medical Device Industries (AMID) chaired by Alejandro Paulini has been saying this for years: we are a large producer and the eighth exporter of these latest generation medical technologies but we acquire them very little. We do not have the capacity to buy first-rate products that we do produce. Obviously we have lacked vision and strategy, and today we are at the maximum extreme of it.
Journalist on economics and health issues
Health and Business
Communicator specialized in public health and the health industry. Studying a master’s degree in Health Systems Administration at FCA of UNAM.
Founder in 2004 of www.Plenilunia.com, a concept on women’s health. I am passionate about researching and reporting on health, innovation, the science-related industry, and finding an objective business approach to each topic.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx