These medicines are already in Poland, they were delivered to wholesalers. People suffering from thyroid and lung diseases, as well as diabetics, should have no problems with buying the medicine they need in the coming days - the Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski said on Thursday.
Szumowski said that the Ministry of Health is in constant communication with pharmaceutical companies due to shortage of medicines, among others, for thyroid diseases and diabetes.
"These medicines are already in Poland, they were delivered to wholesalers and should soon be distributed further," he said. The minister added that "this is a technical problem, caused by global markets and huge corporations".
According to Szumowski, the shortage of medicines problem occured across whole Europe and was related to problems with the production of active ingredient in China.
The minister reiterated the announcement made on Monday that a special telephone line (800-190-590) will be launched, where patients would receive information about medicine availability. "The medicine availability status will be updated very frequently, not only once a day," he reassured.
"We're facing a reality in which wholesalers are not supplying all drugstores, they are stigmatizing some drugstores and deciding which ones will get given medicines and which won't. That's why we need the phone service," said the head of the Supreme Pharmacy Council Elżbieta Piotrowska-Rutkowska.
"The role of pharmacies is to ensure secure patients' access to medicines. Drugstores will be recommending alternatives to the missing original remedies. I hope that the situation will get back to normal very soon," she added.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP