Few Medicine Hat pharmacies have children's pain medication in stock as the nation is impacted by shortages of acetaminophen and similar products.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
The shelves are bare of children’s pain medication in most Medicine Hat pharmacies, evidence of the ongoing, nation-wide acetaminophen and ibuprofen shortage.
Attributed to an earlier and more severe flu season than expected, the shortage was declared by the Government of Canada on Oct. 26.
In the weeks since, the government has secured foreign supplies of both medications but with hospitals receiving distribution priority, the medications continue to be in short supply for retail sale.
The News visited multiple pharmacies Tuesday to assess local supply and found the majority of locations out of both acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
Not a single location visited had brand name medications – like children’s Tylenol, Motrin or Advil – however two of the eight stores visited did have limited supply of pharmacist-compounded acetaminophen suspensions.
Most pharmacies said they were expecting shipments of the medication, but didn’t know when the shipments would arrive or how many units they would include. One pharmacy said they were expecting the medication(s) to arrive in their regularly scheduled Tuesday shipment, but none were included.
In a statement to the News, Alberta Health Services said its provincial pharmacy team is working to address the shortage and minimize impact for patients.
“Our provincial pharmacy team has oversight of medication stock inventories and co-ordinates the movement of stock to sites in greatest need for the duration of a drug shortage,” the statement read. “(And ensures) that critical areas or patients where there are no other alternatives are prioritized for drugs, that alternatives are sought out and made available and that communication are shared with all locations and practitioners.”
AHS did not provide any estimates of when the shortage may be resolved, but did state; “at this time, the shortage has not impacted patients (in hospital).”
While the province has yet to release an official statement regarding the shortage, Premier Danielle Smith did express concern while speaking with reporters.
“If parents don’t have the drugs that they need to be able to treat fever at home, they’re going to hospital waiting rooms, and the hospital waits are unacceptably long. (So) we’re going to take action to make sure we get the supply (of medications).”
Medicine Hat Regional Hospital emergency physician Dr. Paul Parks agrees a correlation can occur between availability of over-the-counter medications and hospital visits, but asserts increased cases and severity of illness remains the central motivator for individuals to seek hospital care.
“There’s a lot of respiratory illness – like RSV, influenza, COVID – out there right now, and that’s why kids and all ages are getting sick,” Parks said. “There are probably more visits to the emergency departments and urgent care centres now – especially pediatrics – because when the kids have a really high fever and they just feel really miserable and look really miserable and you can’t break that fever, then that drives the parents concerns and then they come into (the ER) to get assessed.
“So they’re not coming in necessarily for either acetaminophen or ibuprofen, but they’re coming in because the kids look worse (without medication) and the parents are worried.”
