Updated 6.45pm with Health Ministry reaction -

Two associations expressed concern on Tuesday about a shortage of medication to treat scabies, also pointing out that other EU countries are not suffering a similar shortage. 

Scabies is a contagious skin infection caused by tiny mites that can spread through prolonged skin-to-skin contact with infected people or by sharing personal items such as clothing or bedding. Symptoms include a rash and intense itching.

Treatment involves medication that can be applied to the skin or taken orally.

However, both those medications - Permethrin cream and Ivermectin tablets - are currently not available locally. 

The Maltese Association of Dermatology and Venereology and the Malta Association of Public Health Medicine said other EU countries do not seem to have such shortages.

They therefore urged the authorities to step up their efforts to ensure adequate supplies in Malta.

“Government procurement department keeps ignoring the recommendations of us practitioners who treat scabies and persist in employing very tight procurement policies,” a spokesperson at the  Maltese Association of Dermatology and Venereology said. 

Given the rate at which scabies can spread, "the country needs a complete overhaul of its procurement policies to ensure that levels of stock allow for procurement shortage situations," the spokesperson added. 

In a reaction later, a Health Ministry spokesperson said that new stock of scabies medication has been received by the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit.

The medication will be released for distribution in the coming week.