“It’s a sad situation that we’ve reached,” Enea Martinelli, a hospital pharmacist and board member of the pharmacist association pharmaSuisse, told Swiss public broadcaster SRF. The biggest problem, he said, is children’s medications, especially fever-reducing syrup, as well as blood pressure medications, psychiatric medications and Parkinson’s medications. Painkillers are also a problem.
The Federal Office for National Economic Supply (FONES) confirmed that supply disruptions are on the rise, indicating that the number of shortages of essential medicines is likely to be higher than in 2019.
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The reasons are multiple but largely stem from the ongoing lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine that have created supply bottlenecks. In some cases, it’s the active ingredient that’s missing while in others it is the vial or packaging. Switzerland is also a small country so not a big priority for drug makers.
The shortages have forced doctors to procure medicine from abroad in some cases, said Philippe Luchsinger, who heads the Swiss physicians’ association. Luchsinger called on people not to hoard medicines but rather “only buy medicines when you need them”.
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Limited number of drugs account for a fifth of all costs
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A lack of transparency around the pricing of many top-selling Swiss drugs is also a problem, said an umbrella group of health insurers on Wednesday.
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Despite high demand, the Swiss machinery, electrical engineering and metal (MEM) sector is still hampered by delivery bottlenecks.
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