Barbados Drug Service Faces Supply Shortage, Issues Alert on Critical Medications for Heart Patients
June 8, 2024
Barbados Drug Service faces challenges due to drug shortages, impacting patients with heart conditions. Scarce supplies include Aspirin, anti-epileptic drugs, and cholesterol medications like rosuvastatin and atorvastin.
A shortage of certain drugs, especially for patients who have had heart attacks or dealing with heart issues, is leaving the Barbados Drug Service (BDS) scrambling to fill prescriptions at some polyclinics.
The problem of scarce supplies or unavailability of medications is not a new one, however, according to acting director of the BDS, Delores Mascoll, who said it crops up around this time period every two years.
Some of the drugs that are currently out of stock include Aspirin 300mg and also an anti-epileptic drug for patients suffering from seizures. There is also a limited supply of one of the cholesterol medications, rosuvastatin, while no supplies at all of atorvastin.
“When there is any break in supplies from those countries, the entire world is affected,” she said, adding that when none of her three main manufacturers for the same product has it in it stock, then it is a “global supply issue and that is what we are facing now with the atorvastin.” (NS)
