Solo Salud will supply anti-Covid drugs excluding the private sector

Even though 80 people die every day from Covid-19 in Mexico, the Ministry of Health decided to ban the private sector from distributing Paxlovid, the only authorized viral treatment in the country.

According to the newspaper Excelsior, while in the United States the drug can be prescribed by any pharmacist with a state license, in Mexico, it will only be the private sector that can prescribe it.

“In the Operational Guideline for the emergency use of Paxlovid (Nirmatrelvir / ritonavir) in risk groups for Covid-19, in Mexico 2022, prepared by the Federal Ministry of Health, and with an extension of 54 pages, it was specified that practically 50 percent of this treatment will be assigned to IMSS; 31.5 percent, to the SSA; 10.5 percent, to the ISSSTE; 5.38 percent, to the national institutes and High Specialty Hospitals; 2 percent, to the Secretary of National Defense; 0.71 percent, to Pemex, and 0.48 percent, to the Secretary of the Navy”, explained the media.

So far, the Mexican government has purchased 300,000 Paxlovid treatments, which will be delivered in 10 batches over the next three months; 39,000 of these treatments have already arrived in the country.

Francisco Moreno, Internist and Infectologist and current director of Internal Medicine at the ABC Observatory Medical Center, said he did not know if private hospitals would be included.

Subsequently, the specialist, recognized with the 2020 National Health Award, confirmed the government’s refusal to allow the private sector to access the drug.

“The good news is that 300,000 Paxlovid treatments were recently purchased in Mexico. The bad news is that public institutions will only manage it, and there will be no access to its use by private medicine. The sad thing is that they prefer that the black market continue,” Moreno said on his Twitter account.

Xavier Tello, surgeon, and analyst of Public Health Policies, also joined the criticism for the restriction of the drug.

“It is negative that in Mexico (Paxlovid) arrives with so many restrictions, guarded in the Sedena warehouses and with a regulatory document of more than 50 pages for its prescription. Just as a point of reference, Paxlovid is approved by the FDA to be prescribed by any professional pharmacist in chain pharmacies in the United States,” he said in an interview for Excelsior.

The treatment reduces hospitalization and death by up to 88 percent in patients at risk of progressing to severe disease, according to the Pfizer clinical trial cited by the newspaper.

Paxlovid must be taken within five days of the start of symptoms for it to be effective.