Ontario parents say they're now travelling to the U.S. in search of children's medication
A Canada-wide shortage of children's medication, amid a surge of respiratory infections, has forced some Ontario parents to head south of the border in search of solutions.
At Meds, a pharmacy in Etobicoke, Ont., compound pharmacist Dave Hughes told CTV News Toronto they’re seeing an average of five to 20 excess sick children a day.
“There’s a lineup forming most nights where people are asking questions about one medication or another,” he told CTV News Toronto Thursday. “There is some urgency to a lot of cases.”
Two families said in interviews they plan to travel or had travelled to Buffalo, N.Y., in search of relief for their children.
“My granddaughter had a lung infection, and the doctor said to give her Tylenol,” a woman, Savem, told CTV News Toronto. "She had a really bad headache and cough, but you don’t find Tylenol, you don’t find anything, so this Saturday, I’m going to Buffalo."
Evelyn, a mother who spoke to CTV News Toronto, who said she was previously only able to find a small amount of infant Tylenol in Toronto, said she had recently travelled to Buffalo in search of medication.
“It’s been so difficult,” she said. “I recently went to a Shoppers but all they had was infant Tylenol and only a small amount and they wanted a prescription from a doctor to get it.”
“I decided on my own terms to go to the States, to Buffalo, and they had a few bottles left.”
She purchased only one of the bottles and drove back to Ontario, she said.
Health Canada is blaming the shortage of analgesics, or pain relief medication, on unprecedented demand, while many pharmacists say there's been a supply shortage for months.
Toronto pharmacist Amir Khela says supply has been dwindling for months.
“It’s been gone for what? Three months now?” he said. “It’s definitely a supply problem.”
This week, federal Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said the shortage of medication was due to a rising wave of respiratory illnesses.
“Demand for analgesics has soared,” Duclos said. “We now understand really well that this is driven by the severe viruses that are impacting our children across Canada.”
Officials also point to the spike in children admissions at hospitals. Locally, at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, emergency room wait times are up 12 hours on average. In the hospital's general medicine unit, occupancy rates have hit 133 per cent.
In Ottawa, CHEO, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ottawa, recently had to open a second pediatric care unit.
In the meantime, Health Canada said manufacturers are increasing production, with some producing “at record levels.”
It said it recently approved the “exceptional” importation of ibuprofen from the United States, and is working on doing the same for acetaminophen from Australia, to supply hospitals.
Health Canada is also working on doing the same for community pharmacies and consumers, it adds, although the agency did not provide a timeline for when that would happen.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Heidi Petracik
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Loblaw leaders push back on 'misguided criticism' of grocer as boycott begins
Loblaw's new chief executive, as well as chairman Galen Weston, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a push to boycott the company gains steam online.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.
Prince William and Kate release photo of daughter Charlotte to mark ninth birthday
Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
There's a limit to how much interest rates in Canada and U.S. can diverge: Macklem
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canadian interest rates don't have to match U.S. or global rates, but there is a limit to how much they can diverge.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.