The medicine shortage is still yet to be solved, with drastic bottlenecks continuing to affect supplies of children’s medication. Doctors are struggling to prescribe alternatives for treatment due to the dosage requirements.
Flu and cold season has not yet ended
This spring has not only been disappointing in terms of poor weather. The cold and damp conditions continue to affect illnesses, with colds and flu still rife. Children especially have been suffering from a number of cold and cough viruses. Paediatrician Dr Serge Allard explained antibiotics could be avoided, but there were still difficulties in availability when needed for children:“Basically, we always prescribe the medication we are used to prescribing. And then the pharmacist calls us to suggest something else or mix something else up. It’s complicated.”
Much time is being lost on the phone, Dr Allard added, as it is sometimes necessary to call up to three different pharmacies per patient. Generic medication is also often out of stock, or does not work for small children due to its bitter taste. The paediatrician said there was a lack of necessary communication, as GPs are only kept informed of the shortages through the pharmacies. Dr Allard suggested it should be up to the laboratories or the Ministry of Health to share information on medicine shortages.
Not a new phenomenon in Luxembourg
Medicine shortages are not a new phenomenon in Luxembourg. However, the present bout is especially poor, according to Alain De Bourcy, president of the Federation of Pharmacists:
“Generally when the weather gets better and spring comes, demand drops, and the new supply tides us over. But we are currently experiencing the opposite. Many syrups for children are still out of stock. We have very few alternatives to antibiotics for children. We have ordered lots of products from Germany, so that we can get by in the first place.”
In Germany alone, however, there have been 257 reports of shortages in medicine deliveries in the first 3 months of the year. The demand in Luxembourg is not increasing, but a number of companies have announced that there will be no deliveries to Luxembourg until May or June.
Why are there shortages in the first place?
The pharmaceutical industry makes a lot of money, especially with new, innovative medicines. The margin for traditional products and generic medication has in many cases become so small that companies see the products as unprofitable and therefore limit production.
Two-thirds of the EU’s antibiotics supply is produced in China, a figure which has doubled over the past two decades. The coronavirus pandemic has continued to impact production and imports from China, where restrictions remained in place longer than other parts of the world.
De Bourcy has called for a national stock of children’s antibiotics, calling it a smaller investment than a Covid vaccine. He added that there needed to be more political pressure on the pharmaceutical industry, as the situation could well remain critical into the next winter.
Pollesaison: Et kéint zu Enkpäss bei de Medikamenter géint Allergië kommen
