Health

Medications shortage is "not alarming"

There are worries about the supply of some drugs. | Tolo Mercadal

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma23/03/2019 19:47

The regional health ministry is issuing reassurances that a shortage of some medications is not alarming. The ministry makes clear that in almost every instance pharmacies will have alternatives for prescription drugs which they can themselves prescribe. There are just three that they are unable to, and in these cases patients can ask doctors for a prescription for a substitute. The health service says that it has received no complaint about this.

There was a meeting on Friday between representatives of the national and regional health ministries to address the supply issue. Antoni Real of the College of Pharmacists in the Balearics explains that it isn't a new problem but that it has been aggravated recently. He echoes the words of the ministry in stressing that the situation is not alarming and that is no worse in the Balearics than anywhere else in Spain; it has nothing to do with insularity.

Eladio González, president of the pharmaceutical distributors federation, points out that the supply of medications is a global problem. It is a "serious" one affecting all countries and not just Spain. He dismisses Brexit as a factor, highlighting others, such as a concentration of pharmaceutical manufacture at a global level.

Among drugs that are affected is Adiro 300mg, something for which there are generic alternatives - it is aspirin.