Netherlands facing growing shortage of antibiotics for children, babies

The Netherlands is facing a growing shortage of antibiotics for children and babies, Hellen Huijbers, director of the Eindhoven organization Stroomz, told Eindhovens Dagblad. Antibiotics are indispensable for treating serious bacterial infections like pneumonia and meningitis, and Dutch doctors and pharmacies are scrambling to treat young children with such infections.

“There have been shortages of medicines in the Netherlands for some time. But antibiotics are a basic need. Almost everyone needs it at some point in their life. And that there is now a shortage of antibiotics for children and babies… Then you think, how is this possible? But it is the reality,” Huijbers said. “The Netherlands depends on producers in Asia, and there are supply problems there.” Stroomz covers 29 large general practices and health centers in and around Eindhoven.

Huijbers estimates that Eindhoven doctors and pharmacists currently spend about a third of their day trying to scrape child antibiotics together. “Calling each other: do you have anything lying around? Or discussing with doctors and parents whether an alternative type of antibiotics can be used or prepared,” she said. “All of this comes at the expense of regular care.”

Doctors and pharmacists nationwide are in consultation with Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, the association for Dutch health insurers, about the shortage.

Part of the problem is that the government leaves medication purchasing to the health insurers, Cees Dekkers of pharmacy chain Onze Service Apotheken told the newspaper. Shortages are increasing every year because insurers buy as cheaply as possible. It keeps costs low, and also health insurance premiums. But they also encourage pharmacists to keep as little stock as possible.

“All this makes the chain vulnerable. All it takes is something going wrong in China or India or during transport, and the supply stops,” Dekkers said. “And if medication becomes scarce, producers prefer to supply to other countries in Western Europe because they pay better. In terms of medicine shortages, the Netherlands is now at the same level as countries like Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece. I estimate that the shortages here would be three times lower if we paid the same as our neighboring countries.”