Children's antibiotics, some adult medications now caught in GTA drug shortages
Facing a wave of parents desperate for children’s medications, pharmacists are rationing some drugs in short supply and trying novel mixing methods to supply others as more medications appear to be caught in a nationwide shortage.
This has some pharmacists calling for increased masking to reduce the wave of influenza, RSV and COVID-19 currently swamping paediatric emergency rooms and prompting others to call for a permanent solution of creating a Canadian supply of some drugs through new manufacturing.
“Many of the parents are quite desperate,” pharmacist John Girgis of Apple-Hills Medical Pharmacy in Mississauga told CTV News Toronto. “I had a mother this morning with an infant and a toddler – both had slight fevers – and she was just desperate, in tears.”
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Girgis said he still has supplies of children’s painkillers but due to the demand he is rationing supplies at one box per family.
Pharmacist Kyro Maseh of Lawlor Pharmasave in Toronto said the main challenge he’s facing is a a shortage of two antibiotics – amoxicillin and azithromycin.
“The paediatric formulations are on backorder,” he said. “For us to compound these two is something that most pharmacists have never done before and we’ve never needed to.”
“Our hands are tied. They are difficult to manipulate. The dosing is extremely delicate when we are dosing a child, especially kids under two,” Maseh said.
Maseh called for increased masking in order to slow the spread of infections that are already putting children’s emergency rooms under strain.
“We need to take more active measures to prevent infections. Masking is crucial, especially in schools and in any setting where there are kids at this point. If we’re able to decrease the infection just a little bit so we can slow down the situation, I’ll take it,” he said.
Hundreds of medications across the country are either running low or entirely depleted, including children’s painkillers, cough and cold medication – and now, antibiotics.
Health Canada said it has sourced a foreign supply of children’s acetaminophen and will distribute them to pharmacists soon.
But that is only a small part of the problem, Jen Belcher of the Ontario Pharmacists Association said.
“We’ve been having to work with parents and prescribers using adult products and adapting them for children’s use. Or switching to alternative antibiotics,” she said.
“It’s definitely a concern if we can’t use the appropriate antibiotics,” she said, warning that could lead to longer term problems like antibiotic resistance.
Canada should not be in a position where it is relying on outside sources for essential medications, Maseh said.
“I think moving forward Canada should be manufacturing these at home in excess so that if we get a spike like this we’re able to deal with it better,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Tropical fish stolen from Beachburg, Ont. restaurant found and returned
Ontario Provincial Police have landed a suspect following a fishy theft in Beachburg, Ont.
U.S. FAA launches investigation into unauthorized personnel in cockpit of Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto
The U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a video that appears to show unauthorized personnel in the cockpit of a charted Colorado Rockies flight to Toronto.