hospitals also affected by drug shortage

In hospitals as in pharmacies, drug stocks are under pressure. This is particularly the case in an intensive care unit at the Bordeaux University Hospital (Gironde). The shortage concerns treatments that are sometimes common, other times life-saving. “It’s every day, it’s over the water. We have calls from the pharmacy every day, saying: we don’t have these drugs”says Dr. Catherine Fleureau, head of the thoraco-abdominal anesthesia-resuscitation department at the CHU.

Risks of errors

This entails risks of errors, in particular when it is necessary to compensate for the lack of certain dosages, by replacing them with others. The central pharmacy, which supplies the entire hospital, is on the front line in the face of tensions. In particular, it lacks corticosteroids, essential inflammatory drugs. To ensure a more stable supply, the idea is to group together, in order to buy and store and fight against shortages.