François Brown wants to reassure. The shortage of paracetamol in pharmacies will be resolved “in the coming weeks” and the shortage of the antibiotic amoxicillin “in the coming weeks, months,” the Minister of Health for RTL and LCI said this Sunday. “We have tensions over our drug stocks, this is a reality,” he admitted at first.
As for paracetamol, the former ER doctor assured that supplies would “return to normal levels” in the “coming weeks”. François Braun listed the actions taken to address this shortage: “Pharmacists have limited the number of packs. (sold per person) – since it is a product that can be given without a prescription – we called on manufacturers in this sector to increase the production chains, which operate seven days a week and 24 hours a day.
Resale of amoxicillin to other countries is prohibited
Regarding amoxicillin, the main antibiotic given to children in France to fight a number of bacterial infections such as some ear infections and pneumonia, the minister agreed that a return to normal was “difficult to say.” However, he immediately clarified, “in the coming weeks, months.”
“We have remobilized the entire sector, we prohibit the resale of amoxicillin” to “other countries.” “I authorized pharmacists to unpack,” he also pointed out. Authorities also urged doctors and patients to use these antibiotics only when needed. On Friday, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) mentioned a situation of “severe supply tensions” that could last until March.
“The main problem is that drugs are not produced in France,” said François Brown, stressing that the government’s France 2030 investment plan aims to “repatriate all these industries that produce these essential drugs in France to Europe to ensure our sovereignty.”
“Sorting” in pediatrics?
According to health authorities, this shortfall is due to an increase in demand after several years marked by the Covid crisis and numerous health restrictions that have reduced the spread of some diseases.
During the same interview, François Braun also again declined to talk about “triage” in pediatric services, preferring to talk about “prioritization” because “words matter”. “Children who need hospitalization are hospitalized, they may be in another hospital because there are no places,” he said.
Source: Le Parisien
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