“The situation is dramatic”: pharmacists warn of a shortage of antibiotics in Germany

In Germany there is an emergency for medicines.

Nationwide, 1000 medicines are missing.

What this means for consumers.

Munich – The shortage of antibiotics affects all of Germany.

There is currently a lack of medication everywhere to care for patients.

Clinics are arming themselves against the shortage.

There has been a lack of medicine since last autumn, when children in particular were badly affected by colds and flu.

The situation has not improved.

The Federal Union of German Pharmacy Associations (ABDA) also sees the reason in globalization and in the negligence of the government.

Why is there a shortage of antibiotics: ABDA cites global drug manufacturing as the reason

Medicines are nowadays manufactured in a globalized manner and are becoming increasingly specialised.

According to the Federal Union of German Pharmacy Associations (ABDA), this means that there are only a few manufacturers worldwide for some active ingredients.

If there are also production downtimes or delivery bottlenecks - for example as in the times of Corona or because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine - there is a shortage of medicines.

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Pharmacists and doctors warn of gaps on the shelf.

The shortage of antibiotics affects all of Germany.

© Imago (merkur.de assembly)

According to

, the ABDA also explains that the production of patent-free medicines in Germany is no longer financially worthwhile for many manufacturers.

That is why production is being relocated abroad or even stopped altogether.

The consequence of the lack of antibiotics: what does the drug emergency mean for patients

Supply bottlenecks and production difficulties mean that there are simply not enough medicines available for all consumers.

At a press conference in March 2023, ABDA President Gabriele Regina Overwiening described the statement by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) that the situation would improve as false and “fake news”.

Pharmacists and doctors agree and warn against half-knowledge.

According to a survey by

of these facilities, the lack of antibiotics for influenza and the like extends across Germany, so every federal state is affected by the drug emergency.

Kai-Peter Siemsen, head of the Hamburg Chamber of Pharmacies, warns of the consequences of the shortage.

Although the situation regarding pediatric medicines has actually eased, there is still a lack of medicine in many places.

“We saved too much money from the system.

Fewer and fewer manufacturers produce pharmaceuticals in Germany.

The pay in this country is just too bad.

This is not a new phenomenon.

We've been warning about this for almost two decades.

But now the situation is really dramatic, ”said Siemens to the

.

In Hamburg, every second medical care is a problem and up to 1000 medicines are missing throughout Germany.

The reactions of politics and medicine: This is how you want to counteract the lack of antibiotics

For this very reason, the Brucker Antibiotic Resistance Initiative (Bari) has been in existence in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria, for four years.

This is made up of doctors and medical professionals who advocate more targeted use and against unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics.

However, these and similar medical initiatives alone cannot solve the problem.

That is why Lauterbach, who also wants to fight antibiotic resistance more vigorously, which the WHO warns against, now wants to relax price rules, among other things, in order to enable faster and easier deliveries of medicines to Germany or the production in Germany.

Manufacturers should be allowed to increase the price by up to 50 percent.

The government is also working on a new law to prevent such bottlenecks in the future.

FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus explains

: "Drug supply bottlenecks have been neglected for decades."

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