There is a medicine shortage in Germany. Various medicines, including fever syrups for children, gastric acid blockers, cough syrups and blood pressure medication, are often not available at the moment.
The problems have increased in recent months, said the chairman of the North Rhine pharmacists’ association, Thomas Preis, in Düsseldorf. “The situation is dire.” Looking ahead to 2023, he says, “We expect supply deficits to increase.” A spokesman for the Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (ABDA) spoke of a “great challenge” that one has in view of the bottlenecks and that will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
The ABDA justified the tense situation with the “enormous cost pressure in the healthcare system”. To save money, manufacturers rely on production in Asia, said an ABDA spokesman. If a batch fails there or the ship transport is delayed, this has consequences for the local offer.