Struggling Cancer Patients in Almaty Face Prescription Form Shortage 🚔💊
Medical supply disruption in Almaty hospitals leads to patients lacking prescriptions for necessary medications.
In bustling Almaty, Kazakhstan, cancer patients are battling not just their disease, but also a shortage of essential prescription forms needed for their medications, according to 7 Channel. Sounds awful, right? Let's dive deeper into this troubling situation.
These specific prescription forms, marked with a pink watermark, are necessary for obtaining strong painkillers, especially in cancer patients and the severely ill. However, since January, these forms have been required for drug addicts on substitution therapy as well, causing a shortage for those who truly need them.
Take Tamara Veemeyeva's husband, for example, who's been fighting cancer for over 20 years. His pain has become unbearable, and regular painkillers aren't helping. Stronger medications are a necessity, but they're proving hard to get due to the prescription form shortage.
"He (the doctor) looked, prescribed this tramadol. I've been taking it for about a week. I see it's not helping him. You know, I'm taking this tramadol, it's like a placebo, for the sake of it. Why? He's alive. He's in pain. He cries, asks me to do something when the pain starts. What can I do? I have nothing," Tamara shared, her voice filled with desperation.
The root of the problem lies in the production of these specialized forms. They're made in licensed printing houses, and their production requires tenders, contracts, and time - time that patients don't have when they're in pain.
Gulnara Kuvirova, the main out-of-staff specialist in palliative care at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, explained:
"We can't postpone our pain. We're talking about complex, heavy, strong pain, on a scale of 0 to 10, it's 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That is, it's intolerable and unbearable pain that is treated with strong, narcotic-containing medications."
It's worth noting that Kazakhstan ranks low in global pain management rankings, with experts estimating that up to 95% of cancer patients die without adequate pain relief. Adding to the woes, last summer, the "Kazakhstan Halygy" fund reported receiving appeals from akimats expressing their inability to provide six essential medications to oncology patients.
The city of Almaty is aware of the issue, and they've already ordered the sufficient quantity of forms for all hospitals in the city. The situation arose due to changes in Minister of Health Order No. 32, which stipulates that from February 2025, medications dispensed via special prescription forms, including methadone, must be filled out exclusively on pink forms.
The acting head of the Department of Public Health Management in Almaty, Aizuldyz Ahmetchenko, commented, "This created an urgent need for additional quantities of these forms for medical organizations in Almaty. Work was immediately undertaken to find a supplier and obtain a commercial offer specifying the required quantity."
Improving regulatory oversight, supply chain management, digital transformation, and multi-sector collaboration might help address this issue, ensuring continuous availability and quality oncology services in the future. 🚀💊💔
- In the midst of their battle against cancer, many Almaty residents are also grappling with medical-conditions like severe pain, exacerbated by a shortage of essential prescription forms needed for strong painkillers, as reported by 7 Channel.
- This shortage, attributed to the requirement of these specific pink watermarked forms for drug addicts on substitution therapy since January, significantly impacts cancer patients' health-and-wellness, particularly their mental-health, as repeated appeals for essential medications go unmet.
- To alleviate this predicament, improved regulation, supply chain management, digital transformation, and multi-sector collaboration will be crucial, as they hold the potential to ensure the continuous availability and quality oncology services needed for managing complex, heavy pains and promoting overall health-and-wellness in Almaty's cancer patients.
