A Maltese Mother Opens Up About Lack of Medicines
A Maltese mother opened up about the great upheaval she experienced when her little boy was suffering because of her high fever and she couldn’t find the medicine she needed.
This is as Malta is currently facing one of the most impactful drug shortages, which leaves standard antibiotics such as Augmentin syrup almost completely out of stock.
“It’s quite discouraging when your child has a high fever and antibiotics are urgently needed to start taking effect, and you can’t find the prescribed one in stock,” the mother told Lovin Malta, explaining how scared she felt.
“You find yourself going through the pharmacy directory and calling pharmacies down the list until, if you’re lucky enough to find it, one will tell you there’s one box left in stock.”
“Then we have to ask the pharmacist to keep it aside, until we drive to every corner of Malta just to fill our prescription,” she detailed.
“You find yourself rushing to that pharmacy, wherever you are. If you don’t find it, the doctor will then have to change the prescription.”
However, many times, the infection in the hand will require a particular product, which may not be covered by a different type of medication.
“A few months back I ended up giving my child three courses of antibiotics in a row as the one originally prescribed was out of stock and the secondary ones weren’t really working for the particular infection she had,” she continued.
During the last days, Lovin Malta also personally contacted a number of pharmacies around the island, covering every region, to check on the lack of medicines.
From a total of six pharmacies contacted, covering areas as far as Żabbar, Mellieħa, and Gozo, none had this specific antibiotic for children in stock.
Currently, there are around 40 medicines that are out of stock in the Maltese islands, and it is not yet clear when these will become available again.
Have you been personally affected by the lack of medicines?