FIP organisations must co-ordinate medicines donations after disasters

摘要

The president of the International Pharmaceutical Federation,Jean Parrot,has called on the federation's member organisations to create specialist pharmaceutical units capable of co-ordinating the management of medicines that are donated in the wake of disasters such as the Asian tsunami last December.Speaking at the opening session of the FIP congress on 4 September,Mr Parrot said that,after the tsunami,there was an imperative need for safe,quality medicines and,in a surge of generosity,these medicines were forthcoming from the international community in great quantities.But,like many times before,medicines accumulated in airports.Compounding that problem was a lack of qualified people ready to receive containers of medicines in areas of need,which sometimes delayed the medicines indefinitely in customs zones.