Saline Shortage

[KathyF]

For those that may have found hospitals reluctant to give you saline when you go in for dehydration, this may be why:

Saline shortages create troubles for U.S. hospitals

Hospitals across the country are struggling to deal with a shortage of one of their essential medical supplies. Manufacturers are rationing saline — a product used all over the hospital to clean wounds, mix medications and treat dehydration. Now drug companies say they won’t be able to catch up with demand until next year.

That leaves San Francisco General Hospital’s materials manager, Reid Kennedy, in a fix. Kennedy is in charge of managing all the gloves, bandages, bedpans and IV solutions for all the medical floors, emergency room and operating room.

He first got a call last year from his vendor telling him they might not be able to deliver his full order.

“We were put on notice that it was going to be tight,” he said.

Then things got worse in January. The flu season hit much harder than expected, and sick people flooded into hospitals. Saline bags flew off the shelves to treat dehydration, and demand far outstripped supply.

“The flu season knocked us out as an industry,” Kennedy said. Though hospital administrators say the shortage hasn’t affected the quality of patient care, Kennedy uses the word “crisis” to describe the shortage. ...

You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/saline-shortages-create-troubles-u-s-hospitals/

 

[JackieOnLine]

after reading the link I am still confused: if drug companies are about raise the price, why can't they just then make more?

 

[KathyF]

What I got out of it is that there was a slow down in production due to increased FDA scrutiny that caused increased inspections and shutdowns for maintenance. This was compounded by seasonal demand. Frankly, I could never figure out why this type of scenario causes prices to go up. Does it actually cost them more in the long run to get production back up when they fall behind like this?

 

[Terri]

Supply and demand makes the price go up.

 

[Larra]

And the crazy part is that saline is nothing but water with a carefully measured amount of salt added. It's not as though it were challenging to formulate, or that there is only a limited market for it and thus no profit to be had.
there have been more and more drug shortages in recent years which has made care difficult for patients with specific diseases, but this affects every hospital and clinic for both people and animals (yes, sick or injured animals need saline too). There is just no excuse for this one.