In the age of plenty, it is hard to find medicines in the pharmacy. “At the moment there is no Nifedicor in drops, a drug used to treat some heart problems, while ibuprofen comes with a dropper,” says Enrico Beltramelli, provincial president of Federfarma and owner of the homonymous pharmacy in Corso Cavour.
The supplies
From ibuprofen to reflux medicines, Beltramelli puts a long list of products on the table to order and explains: «Every day, three times a day, I get in touch with the wholesalers to find the ones I need. Some are missing entirely, others arrive in quotas. Maybe we ask for ten boxes and a couple arrive at the pharmacy. And if before a couple of suppliers were enough to guarantee supplies, today even three or four are needed».
The consequences fall on the patients, and on the doctors who have to prescribe the therapies: «It will happen two, three times a week – says Stefano Cartesegna, general practitioner of the Mirabello associated studio in Piazza San Bernardo – the patients come back to us informing us that they cannot find the drug, and so we have to change the therapeutic regimen and repeat the prescription». Then he lists the critical issues encountered during the work: «We had problems with high-cost drugs that are becoming widely used, such as incretins, for which the ministry has recently authorized us to draw up the treatment plan. Demand has increased and we have reached stock shortages – i.e. depletion of warehouses – now back. We’ve had problems in the past with tetanus vaccines, low molecular weight heparins. While the drugs to treat candida, a very common infection involving the oral cavity, are no longer effective due to the emergence of resistance. The shortage of medicines will be one of the most serious problems in the coming months.
The antibiotics
On the pediatric front, the situation is less felt but present: “I prescribe few drugs, but for now it’s hard with amoxicillin – explains Claudio Cravidi, pediatrician at Stradella and professor at the University of Pavia – it is the leading antibiotic for treatment of three diseases of children: acute otitis media, tonsillitis and bronchopneumonia. 80 percent of the cases in which antibiotics are used are due to these disorders. Without it, others must be used such as cephalosporins, of which a very moderate use must be made so as not to increase antibiotic resistance ». The shortage of ibuprofen continues: “the situation has improved – says Roberto Braschi of the Moderna pharmacy – but stocks are still not sufficient”. For certain medicines there is a solution: «It depends on the medicines, you can use the equivalents – explains Antonio Zannotti of the San Matteo pharmacy – they are exactly the same as those sold under a commercial name. We need to educate patients, letting them entrust themselves to the pharmacist ».