“There is no risk of a systemic lack of medicines in Poland,” reassures Deputy Minister of Health Maciej Miłkowski in response to the intervention of the Ombudsman Marcin Wiącek in connection with reports of difficulties in accessing morphine medicines.
Maciej Miłkowski: There is no risk of a systemic drug shortage
Published Dec. 13, 2022 09:04
Fot. Rafał Gronecki / IOZ
Recall, signals about problems with the availability of morphine have been appearing for several weeks. Drugs with this substance are needed especially in the group of cancer patients. Therefore, the Ombudsman for Citizens' Rights, Marcin Wiącek, sent a letter to the Minister of Health in which he asks about actions taken to improve the situation. Minister Adam Niedzielski referred to the matter during the press conference. As he said, the problem results from the disruption of the supply chain as a result of Brexit, as a result of which production had to be moved from Great Britain to Germany. According to the announcement, deliveries are to be restored this year.
Now, the official reply to the Ombudsman's letter has been issued by Deputy Minister of Health Maciej Miłkowski.
"The Minister of Health undertakes all necessary actions and interventions with regard to the tools at her disposal, however, the emergence of market shortages of individual drugs is not always possible to predict, and largely depends on random factors", we read in the letter.
"The drug market in Poland is largely dependent on imports from abroad. These restrictions apply not only to the Polish market, but are noticeable throughout Europe. However, shortages of individual medicinal products often occur only locally,” adds the Deputy Minister of Health.
Maciej Miłkowski emphasized that in mid-November the Main Pharmaceutical Inspectorate urgently issued all import licenses for products containing Morphini hydrochloridum and Morphini sulfas, which improved the situation of availability.
