By Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter SOME PHARMACISTS across the island are refusing to sell the popular 'morning after' pill, Postinor 2, despite the Government's support of the drug to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
They contend that government's promotion of the pill, since removing it from the list of prescription drugs some six months ago, has been insufficient and contend that the decision was doing more harm than good.
"We don't want to deal with the kind of pressure that other pharmacies are now experiencing," said David Tavares, director of Hilton's Pharmacy in Montego Bay.
"We knew that patients would tell you a lot of fabricated stories just to get it (Postinor) anyway and the way in which it is being promoted we consider it misleading. I think what we need in Jamaica right now is behaviour modification; promiscuity needs to be dealt with. Right now many nations are faced with deteriorating family structures," he added.
Peter Daley, an accountant at the pharmacy further explained, "One of the reasons why we don't stock Postinor is that if it is not regulated properly it can cause internal bleeding."
Several other pharmacies are reportedly refusing to sell Postinor for similar reasons including the current trend of abuse currently taking place.
For those who stock the drug, however, the fears are mounting and they are hoping something will be done soon to counter the problem.
"Some people just come for it like a normal sweet, for others AIDS is not even an issue right now," says Denise Harty of Fontana Pharmacy in Montego Bay.
"It is not being used as an emergency contraceptive right now. You have patients using it two, three, four, five times a month when it's supposed to be used no more than twice.
"When we do the interviews and try to inform them, a lot of them have taken it many times before so they know the questions and know how to answer."
In the meantime, figures from the Ministry of Health showed of the 516 new cases of AIDS and 415 new HIV infections reported between January and June 2003, 42, per cent are women. More than 8,000 pregnant women were tested for HIV between January and June and an estimated 700 HIV-positive pregnant women will deliver 100 to 175 HIV-positive babies at the end of December 2003. Children under age 10 accounted for seven per cent of the total reported AIDS cases.
St. James and Kingston and St. Andrew recorded 54 per cent of all reported cases of AIDS for this year. Reported cases also went up by between 15 and 24 per cent in Hanover, St. Ann and Trelawny. There were 346 AIDS deaths between January and June.
