National News

Great medicine shortage in the Netherlands

Medicine shortages have become a very big problem worldwide in recent years. The Netherlands also has to deal with this. Dutch pharmacies have to face this challenge daily, but fortunately, they have been able to handle many of the arising issues, so the problems for the patients have remained minimal. However, the increasing shortage from 1007 to 1514 different drugs, retrieved from the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association (KNMP), shows an increase of over 50% from 2021 to 2022! This leaves pharmacists and pharmaceutical associations worried An average of 17 5 hours a week are spent on these shortages by the pharmacy teams, due to taking time to explain this to patients, searching for alternatives, and keeping contact with prescribers and health care providers. This leaves pharmacy employees frustrated, as they would rather use this time to provide actual care.

So what is the cause? This is difficult to pinpoint, as many factors play a role. For example, problems with production, distribution, quality, or an increase in demand. The Netherlands is at the back of the line when it comes to the supply of medicines. This is due to the low number of inhabitants and the relatively low medicine consumption compared to other countries Moreover, medicine prices have decreased in recent years due to restricting regulations, which makes the Netherlands relatively unattractive for medicine manufacturers. This especially becomes a problem if there are already drug shortages.