Dear Jim,
Having discussed with my doctor (seldom seen in 12 years – since I’m mostly healthy) a “blizzard cupboard” of useful medicines to have on hand – he said “great idea”. I live in a rural area – about a 5 hour drive round-trip to doctors and drug stores, and we have been snowed in for as long as 4 days. I took several “wilderness medicine” courses, then returned to him two years later with a list of prescriptions I wanted. He said “no way” – that he was the doc and I was not. He is moving to New Zealand soon – so I’ll have to find another.
Alternative source – if you happen to have a friend who has a ship captain’s license. There are marine medical suppliers that will sell prescription drugs to captains “for use only on shipboard with the direction of a physician or a captain”.
One source of a kit is Marine Medical International – contains a small quantity (typically 1 course) of a variety of over-the-counter and prescription drugs in a kit which costs $1,000. I do not recommend this one – since there were seven discrepancies in the quantity listed and actually received (3 less, 4 more). There were two prescription drugs that were short: antibiotic Keflex 500mg (supposed to have 40, actually had 30 per the inside label) and a pain medication Toradol (or Ketorolac 10 mg – supposed to have 20, actual bottle label said 10).
Other negatives: – web description says “over two dozen prescription medicines” – actual was 14, the rest are over the counter (OTC) drugs. – Many misspellings of drug names – indicating poor attention to important details. – High price – No organization (hint – alphabetical – or by disease – or something?) – the list was somewhat alphabetical depending on which name you use, but this did not match the order in the kit, nor the order of the drug information sheets in the book.
The book contains a printed copy (inserted in a plastic sleeve) of information about each drug from a web site (which you can access for free. (This particular one has information on Amoxicillin)
The kit looked great – except there were six plastic boxes squashed inside the kit – so squashed that half of them were broken.
I assume there are other choices – some of which might be better. Just thought my experience might be of some help to those who have captain friends.
Sincerely, – S.J.