Women wait on supplies of the Pill

Photo / Thinkstock

A shortage of a brand of contraceptive pill has led to women around the country having to wait up to two weeks to get their medication.

Others have had to go back to their doctor to see whether they could use an alternative brand.

A Napier woman said she had seen her doctor on Friday and was given a prescription for a repeat supply of Marvelon 28.

But at the pharmacy she was told they would be out of stock for the next two weeks.

"I went to three chemists and the story was the same: 'We don't have it for the next couple of weeks'.

"They said there was a shortage throughout the whole country. The shelves are empty. They don't have anything. They can't even give you one sheet of pills.

"There's just absolutely nothing."

The woman, who did not want to be named, said she was not overly upset but felt it would be a huge inconvenience for many women.

"The GP didn't even know there was a shortage so now I have to go back to see the doctor to see if alternatives would be okay for me."

Another woman, in Auckland, said she had faced a similar issue with the shortage of the Cerazette brand.

"I changed to Cerazette and had been taking it for three months. I went to get a repeat prescription and was told there was none available.

"I asked if I could go to another pharmacy and get my prescription filled but was told that there was none of the pill in New Zealand."

The woman said she had to wait just over two weeks until the pharmacy got in new stock which was annoying, she said, given the effects that it had.

"Anyone who's on the contraceptive pill knows that when you stop taking it for any length of time, your body reacts."

Drug buying agency Pharmac yesterday said its supplier of Marvelon - Merck Sharp & Dohme - had informed them that a shipment was expected to be airfreighted from the Netherlands on November 4.

Pharmac's manager schedule Rachel Mackay said: "Once this arrives in New Zealand, it usually takes approximately a week for stock to be distributed through the supply chain to pharmacy."

Pharmaceutical Society president Elizabeth Plant said alternatives could work if women saw their GP.

However, many women would be inconvenienced in a number of ways.

"Patients do get used to one oral contraceptive and it is extremely concerning when they have to change, particularly something that women rely on like this."

Auckland CityMed pharmacist Maree Barry said yesterday that they had a waiting list for Marvelon, which they had had no supplies of for a number of weeks.

"People here have been going on something else in the meantime ... usually they've just been given a three-month or one-month supply of something else. We don't turn anybody away."

Mrs Plant said colleagues in Australia and the US had told her that they faced similar issues with drug shortages - not necessarily contraceptives - and the constant need for patients to change brands.