The problem of procuring drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis is not new, but now, when there is a shortage of the necessary drugs, it has become more dangerous and serious for anyone suffering from tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is not a common disease neither in the countries of the region nor in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and in most cases, it is detected early and treated in time. However, precisely because it is not so active in our country, no one wants to pay attention to the availability of the drug for those who do get infected.
There has been a problem in BiH for a long time, and that problem relates to the procurement of certain drugs necessary for therapy in the treatment of tuberculosis in milder patients who can be treated at home.
Now at the level of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), it is not possible to obtain the drugs Isoniazid and Rifampin, which are necessary for therapy that must not be interrupted and usually lasts six months. The situation is not much better in the Republika Srpska (RS), where Isoniazid can now be obtained in pharmacies, but Rifampin is unavailable.
Pharmacies in both entities state that there is no medicine and that they do not know when it will arrive, and patients, who have to fend for themselves, are forced to purchase medicine on the black market.
The Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH stated that the problem with the mentioned medicines did not arise now and that it has been current for many years.
“The aforementioned drugs have not been approved for the BiH market for many years. They are used for the treatment of tuberculosis. The number of people suffering from the disease in BiH is not large. The companies that produce it have not shown any initiative to register these drugs,” the Agency stated.
The Agency also states that the solution for patients is to contact the pharmacist at the pharmacy, who could/should initiate the procurement process through interventional importation.
