Despite the reduction of injectable painkillers and anesthetics by a major supplier in Quebec, the Sun Country Health Region is coping well with the slowdown in the supply chain ... so far.
The current supply of these particular pharmaceuticals in the southeast sector is good for about a month, said Marga Cugnet, Sun Country's interim chief executive officer.
"The supply is being handled internally within the region based on supply and demand," she said.
The particular situation at St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan is "being well managed by our pharmacy staff," said Greg Hoffort, the hospital's executive director.
"They know what the alternatives are and where they are available, and I believe the physicians are co-operating with their prescription advice, and of course, this will require constant monitoring of those on the affected list. They are ensuring that the alternate medications are correct," Hoffort added.
Cugnet said that when the usual injectable medications are not available, then their oral counterparts are prescribed when possible as the first option.
Health regions across the province have formed a partnership to access alternative medications, but as far as processing the requirements to manage pain, "nothing has changed," said Cugnet.
The hard-line monitoring of the drugs began about three weeks ago when it was learned that Sandoz Canada, a major generic drug manufacturing company in Quebec, shut down its plant to make upgrades to comply with a United States Food and Drug Administration order to improve their quality control procedures.
Sandoz said they were cancelling production of some drugs and slowing production of others and then the slowdown was worsened following a fire at the plant in early March.
Cugnet said they have been informed that the reduction in injectable drug supplies could last from 12 to 18 months.
"We have heard that the provincial and Canadian governments are seeking options to license some other drug manufacturing companies to fill the gap or to bring other drugs that would serve the same purpose, online," Cugnet said.
The injectable drugs are used for pain control and are administered through intravenous lines and used as anesthetics in operating rooms. Some patients who are unable to ingest the oral alternatives will continue to receive the injectable version.
"We have sufficient drugs to last about a month," said Cugnet, who noted that southern health regions are staying in contact regarding medication inventories.
"Of course it is time consuming, but necessary and we do need to communicate to get the co-operation of physicians and nurse practitioners as well as the patients," Cugnet said.
So far there has been no need to compromise regular surgeries and the region can still respond if emergency operations are required.
Cugnet said the monitoring of the manufacturing situation is ongoing and there is a certain volume of the injectable drugs coming into Sun Country on an allocation protocol basis since Sandoz is still producing the painkillers, albeit on a significantly reduced scale. She said the allocation protocol is in force right across Canada to ensure that no one health facility or region gets to hoard any particular medication.
