Direct Chemist Outlet in Bega's Sapphire Marketplace experienced a bit of a frenzy this week after boxes full of rapid antigen tests were delivered to their store on Wednesday and Thursday.
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The pharmacy staff put the announcement out to the community over its social media both days around 10am after the tests were delivered, and by around midday they had sold out completely.
Pharmacist in charge Freddy Kagonda said it was a tough week for the staff trying to ensure there was an even distribution throughout the community despite the small number of testing kits that came in.
Each customer was limited to the purchase of two RATs on each day the pharmacy had the tests in store.
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"I think everybody is panicking a little bit, which is understandable given the current conditions, we're just doing our best to try and curb that by having these tests around.
"There's been a lot of phone calls coming through with people asking for tests, customers have come in looking for tests.
"We've had to try and station staff in strategic ways to obviously maintain the headcount in the store and maintain social distancing, we don't want this to be a reason why there's a spread, because obviously everyone is in a frenzy to try and buy them."
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Although there were times when there were line-ups outside of the store of people waiting to get in to purchase a RAT, staff members were quick to monitor the amount of people entering and exiting the store.
They had to balance the number of people entering for prescriptions and other products as well.
Mr Kagonda said the store had about 500 RATs each day, so a total of 1000 over the two days were sold.
Although it was not enough to keep up with demand, orders were slowly trickling in as stock shortage continued to impact the country.
"There was a lot of disappointment from customers calling, customers coming in and only just missing out, it's sort of disheartening when you see someone who really needs the test and you can't supply it.
"It's almost heart-breaking so to say, but we literally sold everything that we had, there's nothing left in store."
"We've had to think outside the box about ordering and not go through our normal channels, so we've got six or seven suppliers and we try and get small amounts from everybody," he said.
Thankfully DCO had heard from some of their suppliers who said they would have more orders lined up for delivery on Wednesday, January 26.
Although the pharmacy had been promised more stock at this point, orders are likely to continue slowly trickling in and it was still waiting on a number of back orders.
A number of advance orders for the month of February have also been made.
With a lot of sick people coming in through the door, the pharmacy has been keeping its staff safe through regular cleaning, Perspex screens in front of counters, regular temperature checks, staying home if unwell, social distancing, and ensuring people are checking-in.
Mr Kagonda's advice to the community was for people to call or check-in as, "we are almost in the dark until the delivery comes." He said the announcement would always be over their social media and the signs would be up out the front of the store.