Pharmaceutical companies have reported that they are ready to supply the drug Tamiflu needed for treating A (H1N1), notoriously known as Swine Flu.
In an interview on Tuesday, the managing director of Premier Pharma, Naren Kharedi, said that information from Roche, a multinational pharmaceutical firm, had promised to supply the drug to Botswana soon. He said that at the moment, the company, which manufactures and supplies Tamiflu, is rolling it out to countries in Europe, especially ones hit by the Swine Flu virus.
"We have to have the drug here because we need this kind of medicine, especially looking at the fact that Swine Flu is a global concern," Kharedi said.
Another local pharmaceutical company, Delta Pharmaceuticals, says it is ready to supply the country with the Swine Flu drug.
The company's general, manager, Vaidyanadhen Murali, says though the drug is not registered to be supplied locally here, "if there is a pandemic, the ministry (of health) gives a special permission for us to bring it into Botswana'.
The generic name for Tamiflu is Oseltamivir . Murali says is in the form of a capsule, usually the drug in packets of 10. "A patient needs to take one tablet two times in a day - one in the morning, another in the evening. Swine Flu is like normal flu, but one with abnormally high fever."
Some of the symptoms of Swine Flu are fever, a sore throat, coughing, a stuffy nose, chills, a headache and general body aches. Other symptoms include fatigue, chest pains and difficulty in breathing. Some people may have diarrhea and vomit.
In an interview recently, the director of public health at the Ministry of Health, Shenaaz El Halabi, said that drugs for treating the A (H1N1) flu are available, but there is no vaccine . "However, efforts are underway to develop the vaccine," she said.
Some of the countries that have been hit by the flu are Mexico, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, Portugal, China, Denmark, Ireland, El Salvador and Switzerland.
According to Swissinfo.ch, a Swiss drug maker, Roche is donating 5.65 million packets of Tamiflu to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The donation will replenish stockpiles of Tamiflu that depleted when WHO sent supplies to poor countries in response to the outbreak.
According to the online Swiss news agency, each packet of Tamiflu is enough for one course of treatment for the viral infection. Roche said on Tuesday it could increase production to 35 million packets from 22 million a month if needed.
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