European hospitals ‘could run out of key Covid-19 drugs within days’
European hospitals could run out of essential medicines needed for Covid-19 patients in intensive care in less than two weeks, officials have warned.
The European University Hospital Alliance said that without countries cooperating to ensure a steady supply of these drugs, doctors and nurses might no longer be able to provide adequate intensive care for people critically ill with coronavirus.
In a statement published this week and sent to national governments, the group said that aside from the need for protective gear and ventilators, “the most urgent need now is for the drugs that are necessary for intensive care patients”.
They wrote that existing stocks of muscle relaxants, sedatives and painkillers were likely to run out in two days in the hardest-hit hospitals, and in two weeks in others.
The shortage has led some hospitals to buy alternative drugs or try other doses on patients.
“It is extremely worrying that overworked and often less-experienced nurses and doctors-in-training, drafted to fill the gaps, have to use products and dosages that they are not used to,” the group wrote, on behalf of hospitals in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Spain.
The hospital group noted that some governments had reacted to the shortages by refusing to export drugs elsewhere, and warned this would prevent drugs from reaching hospitals in dire need of the medicines.
“No single country in Europe has the production facilities to provide all the drugs (or protective gear or ventilators) needed,” they wrote. “Coordinated European action will be of vital importance.”
Meanwhile, The European Commission will propose a plan supporting short-time work across the continent in a move aimed at helping businesses and workers weather the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc’s executive arm will unveil the new tool dubbed “Sure”.
Ms Von der Leyen said the plan will mitigate the effects of the economic downturn by helping workers keep their jobs. She says companies should not lay off workers, even if duties have decreased because of the coronavirus.
Ms Von der Leyen said the plan will also help the economy restart “without delay” once lockdown measures will be lifted across the continent.
