Medicine shortage can stay for a long time in Hungary

The current medicine shortage can stay with us for a while. One of the triggers of the drug shortage panic is when pharmacies run out of a highly advertised product and patients can not access their necessary medication. For instance, the post-event pill is often needed, even though it is hard to get. Let’s examine the reasons behind the drug shortages. 

“The current situation could stay with us for a long time,”

said Zoltán Hankó, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists (MGYK) to qubit.hu about the shortage of medicines. He listed the following factors:

• Remaining problems of the energy crisis
• The advertisements are full of certain products produced by certain pharmaceutical companies at a discount
• GPs often prescribe prescription medicines that are not available in pharmacies
• Supply routes for active substances manufactured mainly in China and India are not easy
• As the world has become increasingly concentrated on the pharmaceutical industry, if there is a problem with a company or a component, it affects the rest of the world

Advertised non-prescription medicines are popular, but unavailable products are also prescribed

As a result of television advertising, which mainly focuses on price promotions and presents medicines as consumer products, many people are alarmed when there is a shortage of a particular drug. However, it is impossible to imagine a situation in which a pharmacist cannot offer a patient an alternative that can achieve the same goal with the same component.

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Apart from over-the-counter medicines, many products containing active antibiotic ingredients are not available. There are also problems with the availability of anti-anxiety drugs and insulin.

Another problem, according to Hankó, is that GPs often prescribe prescription medicines that are not available in pharmacies. The solution is for the prescribing doctor’s software to show in real-time that the medicine is not available, but what alternatives he can prescribe instead. In autumn 2020, MGYK’s president submitted an official proposal to the competent authority, but so far nothing has been done.

There is demand for it, despite the fact that it is expensive and difficult to get

In Hungary, a total of 73,632 pills of post-event contraceptive medicines were bought in pharmacies from January 2020 to August 2022. This represents an average of 2,301 pills per month and 27,612 pills per year.

According to hvg.hu, Előd Novák, a politician of Mi Hazánk, was looking for proof of a regularly made claim, declaring that “abortion is the leading cause of death”.

“It is not a recent debate whether the emergency contraceptive pill is an abortifacient, but according to the current state of science, the emergency contraceptive pills available in Hungary can only prevent pregnancy, they are not suitable for abortion” – says Dr. Júlia Benkovics, gynecologist, to hvg.hu.

The regular hormonal contraceptive pill works on the same principle as the post-menstrual pill, but it inhibits ovulation by taking a lower dose of progestin. If the method works, there is no “embryo loss”.

Already in 2015, one type of this medicine was made available without a prescription, but the Ministry of Human Resources insisted that it should remain available only with a prescription. This was explained officially as “patient safety risks.”

However, the emergency contraception system in our country is not working well under the current framework, according to Benkovic. The prescription is usually written at the gynecology clinic where you live or at your GP. However, it may not be possible to do this immediately, so the patient may go to a private practice, where the prescription and possible examination will be charged in addition to the basic price of the medicine.

It is not yet known whether the government plans to make this system more difficult or easier. But the so-called “child protection” referendum and the case of the “heartbeat law” could be seen as a forerunner of further regulation.

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Source: hvg.hu, qubit.hu