Fight against a lack of medication in Remscheid: pharmacists raise the alarm!

Fight against a lack of medication in Remscheid: pharmacists raise the alarm!

All over Germany, there are currently alarming reports on a critical lack of medication. In Remscheid, doctors and pharmacists are particularly concerned about the pension conditions. Henning Denkler, owner of the rainbow pharmacy, has a list of 229 non-available medication, which includes a total of almost 500 packs. This situation has meant that many patients can no longer be sufficiently treated with the medication they need.

According to Denkler, the defect primarily affects vital medication such as asthma sprays, insulins, antidepressants and even simple saline solutions. This saline solution is essential for many medical procedures, and its absence has already led to shifts in operations. The lack of medication has a strong impact on medical care and represents a serious problem.

Current situation of medication supply

If patients rely on an unavailable medication, thinkers in the pharmacy often go through the following steps: He tries to replace the prescribed drug with an equivalent product of another brand. If this is not possible, alternative packaging sizes or other active ingredients are sought, which often requires consultation with the doctor. This process could be very time -consuming and stressful for the pharmacy employees. Denkler estimates that in each pharmacy between 10 and 40 working hours for the management of delivery bottlenecks, which leads to an additional effort of around 400 million euros nationwide.

A tragic turn can experience patients through the trend of buying medication online. Denkler warns that international online pharmacies often do not operate the necessary management for delivery bottlenecks and, in contrast to local pharmacies who are actively looking for solutions, only offer the return of non-available recipes.

Important for patients, especially for those who regularly rely on essential medication such as insulin or antidepressants, it is quickly to get to the pharmacy after you have received a prescription. Denkler points out that the times when you can simply go to the pharmacy and go out with the medication required are over. The current deficiency is more serious than anything you have experienced in the past.

Another important topic is whether pharmacies can create supplies of medication. Denkler explains that this is practically impossible. Predictive storage is hardly feasible because it is uncertain which medication will be affected next. The space is also limited and many medication have fixed expiry date.

On the monetary aspects of the problem, Denkler explains that patients generally no longer have to pay more than they are used to. With alternative medication, however, it can happen that they are more expensive and the patient has to pay the difference. Some active ingredients are only produced by a very small number of manufacturers, which reinforces the dependence on a few sources.

The delivery bottlenecks are not new, but the situation has been dramatically intensified in recent years. Thinkers observed that there are often different products that are affected and that there are sufficient threats that can tighten the supply situation. The law to combat pharmaceutical delivery bottlenecks that was passed last year has not yet brought any noticeable improvement.

The causes of the lack of medication are multi-layered. In particular, Denkler mentions the excessive centralization of active ingredients as one of the central problems. Many medications are currently produced almost exclusively in a few countries, which increases the dependence on the supply chains there. An example are antibiotics whose production is largely taking place in China.

The situation is similar with the financial framework. The high price damping of medication in Germany has led to the fact that manufacturers often tend to offer their products in countries with higher prices. Denkler sums it up: If the system becomes attractive for the manufacturers again, they could also be ready to deliver to Germany and produce products. However, this requires fundamental changes to diversify production and create new incentives.

Henning Denkler has been the owner of the rainbow pharmacy since 2016 and, thanks to his experience from the front row, has a comprehensive insight into the challenges associated with medication in Germany. His statements illustrate the need for an urgent solution in a system that is increasingly in a crisis. For detailed developments and insights into the current situation, a deeper reading of the reporting on www.rga.de .

RGA