A Survey on Medicine Shortage in Community Pharmacies in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia

Access to quality healthcare has been considered an apolitical objective on a global scale. Despite this, there are occasionally shortages of medicines because they are not always readily available. A drug supply problem that necessitates a change that affects patient care and requires the use of an alternative agent is known as a medicine shortage. A shortage can occur at any point during a medicine's lifecycle and in any part of the pharmaceutical distribution chain (pharmacy, pharmaceutical company, or wholesaler). This research aims to evaluate the availability of medications in pharmacies in Special Region of Yogyakarta. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 120 pharmacies in Yogyakarta province, during March to May 2022. WHO essential medicine indicators were used to observe the list of medicine shortage, and its characteristics, including the reasons for medicine shortages in pharmacies, classification of unavailable drugs, and the consequences of medicine shortages. Data were presented descriptively. There were 650 drug items (a total of 1560 items) in one month that were unavailable at 91 pharmacies (75.83%) at least once every six months. The active ingredients that are in short supply are atorvastatin (44.17%), diazepam (21%), azythromycin (13.33%), and haloperidol (13.21%). The medications that were in high demand were also the ones that were in short supply. The reasons for the medicine shortages were rarely communicated to the pharmacies. Customers were able to fill their prescriptions since there were usually enough alternatives. But every third time, there were problems at the pharmacy because there weren't enough medicines. Due to the potential for unhappy customers and increased workload for the pharmacy staff, these shortages may be significant for both the customer and the pharmacy.