The reason that there are out-of-stock medicines is due to medicine scarcity in the European Union, Health Minister Chris Fearne said in Parliament.

PN MP Darren Carabott made a parliamentary question to Fearne on Tuesday, asking for a reason as to why the out-of-stock medicine list was not published for two months.

Government had not published the list of out-of-stock medicines since 7 November. It finally updated its list of out-of-stock medicines on 9 January and confirmed that at least 22 medicines are currently not available.

Carabott also asked if it will continue to be updated regularly at the disposal of the public.

In reply, Fearne explained the reason as to why there was a seven-week delay in the publishing of the list, quoting the Central Procurement and Supplied Unit (CPSU) which already explained that it was because the system was changing from a manual system to a digital system.

He said that the CPSU will continue to publish the out-of-stock medicine list regularly to the public.

Fearne continued that government is looking at alternative markets outside of the EU to make sure that the out-of-stock medicines become available as soon as possible.

"We are making every effort to try and bring in more medicine, we are also giving a timeline as to when the medicine should be next in stock," Fearne said, explaining that this will only take a matter of weeks, and not years.

He said that government is also providing alternative medicine for patients so that they do not remain without medicine.