Increasing drug shortages in Norway

Pharmacy.Photo: pixabay.com

Norwegian hospitals and pharmacies have received 164 different drugs so far this year. The number of essential drugs that are missing has increased in recent years.

In 2015, they lacked 141 different medications, while the figure for the previous year was 111, reports the newspaper VG.

This year to date, 164 drugs were missing and there are still major delivery problems for some of these. For most drugs, there are separate options available, though in some cases, drug shortages lead to delays in treatment.

‘Lack of individual cancer drugs has meant that we have not been able to treat all patients who need treatment. Most of the deficiencies are caused by problems with producers’, said technical director Steinar Madsen of the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA).

In some cases, including with cancer drugs, medicine shortages have resulted in rationing and some patients’ not receiving treatment when they should.

‘There may be patients who have received inferior cancer treatment because of the delay’, Madsen said.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today