PHARMACISTS working on the NSW Far South Coast and Southern Tablelands are bracing themselves for a second week of severe fire conditions, and the potential for interruptions to supplies.
Speaking to Pharmacy Daily, Capitlal Chemist Group Business Manager, Andrew Topp, said up to eight pharmacies in Braidwood, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay and Narooma had been impacted in some way by the fires since late last month.
"The Braidwood fire to the west of the town saw Bente Hart, one of the owners, defending her property, so she was unable to work on Sat (30 Nov)," he said.
"The replacement pharmacist from Canberra was unable to get through due to road closures so the pharmacy could not open on Sat.
"Conditions did settle and on Sun the pharmacy opened to fill public need.
"Access to Braidwood has been intermittent with road closures on and off and the fire is still active to the north, south and west of town.
"Meanwhile, 50km to the east, the Currowan fire to the north of Batemans Bay flared, by Mon it was large enough to have blocked the northern access highway into the Bay - the Princes Highway has been mostly closed for a week now.
"Villages along the coast (Bawley Point, Kioloa, North and South Durras, were evacuated north to Ulladulla or south to Batemans Bay; the pharmacies in the Bay saw numbers of evacuees without medications and worked hard to fill their needs after consulting with their regular pharmacies or doctors to get appropriate informations and prescriptions to supply."
Topp said the fires had seen an increase in demand for asthma medication, eye drops and hydration products as patients prepared.
He added coastal pharmacies had missed deliveries on a couple of days as a result of road closures, but Symbion, their main wholesaler, had re-routed to a longer drive to access Batemans Bay from the west rather than the north.
"The pharmacies in the Bay have also struggled with staff unable to attend because of road closures - this got significantly worse on Thu as the Currowan fire reached the coast and started heading south towards the northern suburbs of Batemans Bay," he said.
"The town is still on the highest degree of alert with surrounding villages inaccessible and/or evacuated, and a return to hot and windy weather early this week."
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