As of: February 20, 2024, 7:11 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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Due to ongoing supply bottlenecks for medicines, doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Lower Saxony have called for measures from the federal government.
Hanover - The Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and Dentists, together with the State Pharmacists Association of Lower Saxony, warned urgently on Tuesday (February 20) in Hanover of a further deterioration in the supply of medicines.
They called on politicians to act quickly “to ensure the supply of medicines and medical devices to the population”.
Due to ongoing supply bottlenecks for medicines, doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Lower Saxony have called for measures from the federal government.
(Archive image) © Imago/Uwe Umstätter
“Influences public trust”: Shortages of 472 medicines are currently documented
“We share the fear that the current crisis of drug supply bottlenecks will have a lasting negative impact on the population’s trust in health care,” said the deputy chairman of the Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVN), Thorsten Schmidt.
In a joint statement with the Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists (KZVN) and the Lower Saxony State Pharmacists Association (LAV), which called for a strike last year, it went on to say: “It is foreseeable that the supply situation will continue to deteriorate without additional measures.”
According to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, supply bottlenecks have currently been reported for 472 medicines (as of February 20th).
Joint statement: Doctors and pharmacists call on politicians to “act quickly”.
Among other things, dependencies on third countries in pharmaceutical production must be reduced, supply chains made more robust and domestic pharmaceutical production strengthened, according to the demand: “The current supply situation shows that existing laws and pharmaceutical law are not suitable instruments to meet the current supply requirements and to be able to cope with supply bottlenecks at short notice,” explains Dr.
Jürgen Hadenfeldt, chairman of the KZVN.
The continued existence of shortages of essential medicines is unacceptable in terms of health policy with a view to ensuring good patient care.
Last year, Thomas Preis, chairman of the North Rhine Pharmacy Association, warned that “supply is hanging by a thread” and that delivery bottlenecks according to the BfArM list have “increased by over 25 percent to currently over 500.
“By over 150 percent within five years.”
Associations see the causes as depending on Asia, market concentration and price regulations
From the point of view of KVN, KZVN and LAV, the reasons for the lack of supply lie, on the one hand, in the dependence on active ingredient producers abroad, especially in Asia, and on the other hand in the “market concentration”, as there are often only a few or even just a single provider for some active ingredients.
In addition, there would be “economic pressure” with regulated prices for medicines, so that manufacturers “cannot simply pass on higher costs to customers”.
This would have led to many manufacturers withdrawing from production.
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Only recently, the head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, declared that pharmaceutical companies were making "sometimes obscene profits" - and were taking money out of the health system in a way that was no longer socially acceptable, and that drug prices were becoming a "serious problem."
Statutory health insurance companies will pay around 50 billion euros annually for medicines in 2023, according to figures from the German Pharmacists Association.
According to Techniker Krankenkasse, innovative, patent-protected medicines, such as gene therapies, accounted for 28 billion euros, twice as much as in 2018. They only made up around six percent of care.
Only three weeks ago it became known that the statutory health insurance companies, having secured their finances in 2023, were expecting a deficit again next year.