By Chantalé Fletcher
THE chemotherapy drug Xeloda will be accessible to the country from tomorrow.
This according to Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh in answer to an Urgent Question by Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial in the Senate on Tuesday.
Lutchmedial asked Deyalsingh to indicate when would public healthcare institutions procure the essential chemotherapy drug Xeloda.
Deyalsingh said the drug was procured via the existing national tendering process and distributed to the public hospitals and they were stock in the system except for San Fernando and St James.
He said 2,150 were identified in the country and sent to NIPDEC for distribution.
This will start tomorrow, he said.
He added, “In addition, 150,000 tablets will come into the country later on in March and another 87,500 doses in April.”
When Lutchmedial asked whether the Government has given consideration to subsidise the cost for patients who had to purchase it from private institutions, Deyalsingh said the shortage was due to Covid-19 restrictions.
He said newspaper reports, the drug was not even available in the private sector.
Deyalsingh said, “The shortage is temporary and short-lived, and speaking to the doctors, it will pose no serious harm to the patients and they will start to receive their supplies from tomorrow.”
