Medicine shortage in Schleswig-Holstein: What patients need to know!

Medicine shortage in Schleswig-Holstein: What patients need to know!

In Schleswig-Holstein, the situation with the supply of medicines is not as dramatic as it was two years ago, but there are currently shortages of several important medicines. How NDR reported, thyroid preparations, asthma and COPD drugs, some psychotropic drugs and cardiovascular drugs are particularly affected. Flu medication and fever juices for children are in stock, but the situation can change at any time.

Affected patients should definitely take precautions. It is recommended that prescriptions be submitted to the pharmacy early to allow enough time to obtain them. The NDR also advises actively asking whether the medication you want is in stock so that alternatives can be found quickly. Networking pharmacies in the region can also be helpful in exchanging information about availability.

The situation in Germany

But Schleswig-Holstein is not alone. Nationwide, Germany is poorly prepared for winter and more than 500 medications are considered difficult to obtain daily news reported. The situation is particularly critical with antibiotics for children, asthma medications and ADHD medications. Thomas Preis, President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacists' Associations, expresses concern about the supply of medicines.

A central problem is the dependence on production sites outside Europe. Where Germany was once known as the “pharmacy of the world”, many medications are now produced in China or India. A circumstance that explains the bottlenecks in supply and is classified as worrying by Michael Engelmeier, CEO of the German Social Association. He calls for production to be strengthened in Europe in order to avoid future bottlenecks.

Bottlenecks and their causes

The statistics speak volumes: In December 2024, over 3 million people in Germany were affected by drug delivery bottlenecks. A real alarm signal, because such bottlenecks not only pose logistical problems, they also significantly affect patient care. Supply bottlenecks for antibiotics are currently particularly critical, and the number of annual reports of such bottlenecks is in the high three-digit range, often even over 1,000 cases.

The causes are diverse: from increased demand to production problems to dependence on imported medicines. Currently only about a third of the production sites for generic active ingredients are located in Europe, the majority are located in Asia. As a result, around 65 percent of the chemicals required for drug production have to be imported - a risky situation that may be exacerbated by transport problems or geopolitical conflicts. In addition, economic considerations often allow production to be relocated abroad, which does not improve the situation.

In view of these challenges, experts are calling for more flexibility and scope for pharmacies in order to reduce bureaucratic burdens. A bill to restore this flexibility is expected to be passed in December and would allow pharmacies to exchange medications with the same active ingredient and, under certain conditions, to dispense prescription medications without a prescription. The General Practitioners Association supports this idea, but emphasizes that pharmacists should not change active ingredients on their own.

The vaccination rate against flu viruses should also be increased in order to better protect the population. The combination of all these aspects clearly shows that the pharmaceutical supply in Germany needs reform and that consumers and healthcare providers are called upon to actively deal with the situation in order to find solutions.