HEALTH COACH - Revealed: hospitals without cancer drugs

HEALTH COACH - 
 Revealed: hospitals without cancer drugs  





 Cancer patients experience additional emotional stress when their treatment is interrupted. Photo taken "title =" Cancer patients undergo additional emotional stress when their treatment is interrupted. Picture taken "width =" 513 "height =" 342 "rel =" nofollow  
 Cancer patients experience additional emotional stress when their treatment is interrupted. Photo taken 
 
 






 Eilish O Regan  





Patients with cancer across the country are facing treatment difficulties due to the shortage of chemotherapy drugs that save lives, said Irish Independent.


 


 The drugs, which are commercially available, are administered intravenously. 



 However, Baxter Healthcare, the only company providing these compound drugs to public and private hospitals, has not been able to provide complete supplies in the past two weeks. 

 This means that oncologists in several hospitals must readjust the treatment they give to patients. 



 These patients depend on the drug to treat their cancer or provide palliative care. 

 Therapy must come in the correct dose that has been prescribed for that particular patient. 



 However, due to the shortage, doctors have in some cases had to give the patient a lower dose of the drug. 

 In other cases, they had to be administered oral rather than intravenous therapy, although it was not part of the patient 's treatment plan. 




 A Baxter spokesman confirmed that he was currently experiencing "a temporary supply constraint" of compound chemotherapy products that he provides to a number of public hospitals and In Ireland. 

 "We are doing everything possible to restore production capacity as quickly as possible and minimize the impact on patients. 



 "We are working with other Baxter compounding units in the UK to identify whether additional capacity can be used," she added. 

 Baxter also advises hospitals to identify alternative supply arrangements and [is] working diligently to re-evaluate equipment, which is necessary to resume production. "



 Read more: the risk of over-dependence on a provider of essential drugs was reported two years ago 

 The spokesperson said: "We expect to resume production next week. We sincerely wish to apologize to patients and clinicians for this situation and reiterate our commitment to resolve as soon as possible." 



 However, Dr. Ray McDermott, an oncologist at the Tallaght Hospital and St Vincent Hospital in Dublin, said he was very concerned about development that causes unnecessary disruption to Patients with cancer. 

 Approximately three-quarters of these chemotherapy products are aggravated by hospitals in their own in-house facilities. 



 But hospitals alone are not able to cope with the demands of the growing number of cancer patients. 

 "We have a supplier and this is not satisfactory," said Dr. McDermott. 

 Some hospitals have had to put in place emergency plans, working longer to produce more compound drugs. But most were particularly affected by the sudden nature of the shortage. 



 Small hospitals where patients attend treatment are in the worst difficulty. 

 Baxter Healthcare became the monopoly provider of chemotherapy composed two years ago after taking over the Irish company Fannin Compounding, which had stops in its insulating machines. 

 By the time there were warnings about significant reduction, this would result in the commercial supply of chemotherapy products in hospitals. 



 Chemotherapy involves several treatment sessions, generally spread over a few months. 

 Apart from chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells, patients can undergo surgery or radiation therapy. 

 Every three minutes in Ireland, we get a diagnosis of cancer. 



 In Ireland, about 40,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year and the incidence increases. 




Irish Independent

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