Cancer drugs arrival speeded up

He disclosed, “I’ve been working with our procurement partner Nipdec (National Insurance Property Development Company) to try to get the drugs in earlier and have been doing it over the past three weeks.” Deyalsingh said Nipdec has assured him that “the first major shipment of oncology drugs including other pharmaceuticals will start to arrive in the country as of September 1 which is today (yesterday), through the first week in September.” He corrected a media report which said these drugs would be available at pharmacies. “These drugs are for the public sector,” he explained.

Deyalsingh said the second batch of oncology drugs should “arrive within the second to third and fourth weeks of September.” “Once those drugs are cleared and go to our warehouse at C40, they will be distributed as quickly as possible to all the public health centres that treat the oncology patients.”