Across hospitals and community pharmacies, medication shortages are becoming increasingly common. From antibiotics and oncology drugs to basic injectables, supply disruptions are no longer rare events—they are recurring system failures.
The reasons are complex: dependence on limited global manufacturers, quality control shutdowns, raw material shortages, and price caps that discourage production of low-margin essential medicines. For patients, this translates into delayed therapy, therapeutic substitutions, or complete lack of access. For healthcare professionals, it means difficult conversations and ethical dilemmas.
Pharmacists often stand at the frontline, balancing available alternatives while ensuring safety and therapeutic equivalence. Yet shortages are rarely discussed beyond operational circles, even though they directly affect outcomes.
This is not just a logistics issue—it is a patient safety issue that demands policy-level attention.
Should essential medicines be protected through national manufacturing safeguards rather than global dependence?
MBH/PS