There’s
a drug shortage in Canada. No, don’t go stock up on Tylenol and medical marijuana;
it’s not that kind of drug shortage – but it is one that will affect our public
health care system. A pharmaceutical factory owned by Sandoz Canada and located
in Boucherville, Quebec is behind the recent shortages.
Sandoz
Canada has informed the public that they will be upgrading their factories as
highly recommended by the FDA who, after inspection, deemed the quality of
their products unsatisfactory. In light of these changes Sandoz Canada is
cancelling production of some drugs while decreasing production of others. These
upgrades, and the subsequent slowdowns of production, are projected to last
about a year. This is problematic because Sandoz Canada produces 60 per cent of
the Canada’s medical morphine, 90 per cent of all injectable drugs, and more
than 100 different narcotic painkillers and sedatives commonly used in
departments such as prenatal care, palliative and home care, cancer, mental
health, surgery, hormone therapy, and EMS – when their factory slows down, the
whole country is left with a giant gap in supply. To exacerbate the problem,
the Quebecois plant experienced a fire in early 2012, causing parts of the
plant to shut down.
Thankfully
the shortage hasn’t yet affected the public health care sector, but a continued
shortage will mean delays to scheduled surgeries, and inadequate supplies for
the treatment of patients under psychiatric care. As a reactionary measure, the
Conservative party, with the support of the NDP, have passed legislation to
hasten the approval of substitute drugs. This means that Canada will purchase
drug equivalents from other countries or more expensive name-brand products in
place of generic.
The
reaction by the federal government seems to be well-received by political
critics, but the public ought to know who stands to gain from this legislature.
When the government begins to explore possible imports and alternative drugs, Sandoz’s
parent company, Novartis, will be on the list, meaning that the exact same
drugs Sandoz Canada produces could be provided at higher cost by the same
corporation. It seems unjust that Canada has to use more tax dollars to cover for
their own inadequate facilities.
Regardless
of who steps in, the price increase is a painful blow for Canada’s public
health care system, which is already struggling with inadequate capacity
demands and an expanding private health care system looking to pick up the
slack.
B.C.’s
public health care is especially vulnerable to increased costs impeding the
level of funding needed to meet the people’s needs, because the provincial
government is about to renegotiate public health care worker’s contracts. For
example, the agreement with the union representing B.C. nurses expires on Mar.
31, and while they have agreed to a zero wage increase, it is demanding the
province hire more than 2,000 nurses to remedy what it calls a “dangerous” staff
shortage.
This
seems a very fair demand that will certainly address the increasing demand on
the public sector, but if the negotiations with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation
are any indication, there just isn’t any money to spare. The decreased tax
dollars resulting from the recession and massive tax breaks given by the B.C.
Liberals to corporations a few years ago aren’t helping matters, either.
With
funding problems reoccurring all over Canada, it’s disheartening that the
federal government hasn’t been more proactive in preventing problems like this
from happening. I would suggest the federal government take this shortage as a
cue to also impose stronger legislature and quality control on essential drug
manufacturing in order to ensure higher quality production and sustainability
in order to prevent situations of crippling slowdown.
There
is little wiggle room in the public health care sector’s budget, and an
increasing capacity demand is making it even more constricting. If the federal
government is serious about a sustainable public sector, more has to be done to
prevent private companies from creating situations that will unnecessarily increase
costs.
//Liam Loxton, writer
//Graphics by Miles Chic
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