Emergency surgeries only as anaesthetic stocks run low

Many hospitals in Belgium will likely only carry out urgent surgical procedures over the summer because of a shortage of anaesthesia, according to the pharmacists’ journal De Apoteker.

The shortage is due to a temporary production stoppage in the spring at a GlaxoSmithKline factory in Parma, Italy, as a precautionary measure while it investigated certain production conditions. Production has resumed, but a few European countries are experiencing shortage due to the month-long stoppage.

According to Katy Verhelle, chair of the Federation of Flemish Hospital Pharmacists, the main problem is with the product piritramide, which goes under the brand name Dipilodor. “We have no alternatives for that,” she said. Another common product, haloperidol, marketed as Haldol, will not be available until at least the end of the year.

“The federal agency for medication and health products and the cabinet of the minister for public health are looking into a solution,” said a spokesperson for federal health minister Maggie De Block. “The only thing we know for sure is that it will take months.”

Photo: Ingimage