Drug shortage and the pharmaceutical assistance policies’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: a management experience report

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a great challenge to the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) managers, such as keeping a proper supply of tracheal intubation medicines. These drugs are known as intubation kit (IK) and their supply and distribution play a vital role for critically ill patients. The Pharmaceutical Assistance's Services and Policies (PASP) management came up with innovative strategies for IK supply. This article aimed to describe the PASP experience in the most populous state in Brazil and the actions taken to manage IK supply during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. It is a management report related to 22 medicines in public hospital settings' stock, under a direct State or City Council management. Some of these public hospitals are under a contract management arrangement with social healthcare organizations. The PASP coordination, under the supervision of the Sao Paulo's State Health Department employed mixed methods such as: supply and distribution management; daily management reports from hospitals of the State Contingency Plan; IK supply through centralized logistics for better distribution process; document management system for tracking IK orders; medicines imported from abroad; document, financial, and strategic communication management. In conclusion, actions taken for a better PASP management were fundamental for monitoring the IK stocks during the shortage of medicines. Teamwork and articulation with all PASP managers involved were also a key-factor for a successful management.