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James Debono
The government order for the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, considered as the first line of defence against the impending menace of a global flu pandemic, has not been finalised yet.
The World Health Organisation warns it is only a matter of time before the pandemic strikes as a result of a mutation of bird flu into human flu.
Government’s dilly-dallying on the urgent order of Tamiflu has vindicated concerns expressed by Labour MP Michael Farrugia when speaking to MaltaToday last week.
Farrugia had correctly informed this newspaper that the order for the anti-viral drug had not yet been issued.
Contacted last week, Health Minister Louis Deguara limited himself to saying that the order of the anti-viral drug had been approved.
But the director-general of the health division Dr Ray Busuttil this week told MaltaToday that the order for Tamiflu has not yet been finalised.
“We are still going to start the process of buying anti-virals,” Busuttil said.
The director-general said the health division has started the process to issue the tender for the procurement of the drug. He also said the health division does not know exactly when the consignment will arrive, as this will depend on the tender negotiations.
“The department will try and negotiate the earliest consignment possible.”
According to Labour’s spokesperson for health Michael Farrugia, if the order is issued now, Malta’s stocks of the drug Tamiflu will be arriving in late 2006 or early 2007, too late if the pandemic strikes in the next year.
Countries all around the world have been rushing to stock this drug. The UK had already ordered its stocks earlier on this year and half of its stocks arrived in April.
According to the Health Division Malta will be stockpiling enough Tamiflu for 25 per cent of the population, amounting to 100,000 people.
Current existing stocks of anti-virals are considered ineffective against the strain of virus which could mutate in the next months. The drug Tamiflu does not cure the disease but it boosts the body’s immune system in fighting the disease.
A vaccine for this flu does not yet exist, as it will only be developed a few months after the emergence of the disease. Therefore having enough stocks of Tamiflu is of vital importance at this point in time.
Speaking to MaltaToday last week, Minister Deguara declared that the government has a guarantee that stocks for the still undeveloped vaccine will arrive within three months of the development of the new vaccine.
But a Department of Information press release issued on Friday confirmed that the order for this vaccine has not yet been issued.
According to the DOI, the tendering process for ordering the vaccine had been concluded on 14th June. But the department is still evaluating the results of the process and has yet to issue the order.
According to Ray Busuttil, the indications are that Malta will receive stocks of this vaccine months after it will be produced.
The Department of Information has reassured the public that the government is taking all the necessary measures to protect the country from the emerging menace, although the fact that orders for the vaccine and anti-viral drugs have not yet been ordered remains far from reassuring.
jdebono@newsworksltd.co
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