Steinhart: “Not knowing today whether antibiotics will be available for patients tomorrow is unacceptable for a wealthy country like Austria.”
Vienna (OTS) – Doctors are currently increasingly struggling with medication shortages in the area of antibiotics. For example, the drug Ospen against bacterial infectious diseases has not been available to Viennese doctors for several weeks. A condition, the president of the medical association Johannes Steinhart considers it unreasonable: “Last winter, Health Minister Johannes Rauch failed to ensure a sufficient supply of the COVID drug Paxlovid as well as flu and corona vaccines. Now there are problems with the highly sensitive supply of antibiotics against bacterial infections. Not knowing today whether there will be enough antibiotics for patients tomorrow is unacceptable for a wealthy country like Austria.” Politicians must invest massively in the rapid expansion of domestic drug production. Steinhart cites the penicillin production plant in Kundl, Tyrol, as a best practice example: “We need more independence from overseas supply chains, which have already proven to be extremely fragile during the pandemic.”
No Ospen available – due to high infection rate with group A beta-hemolytic streptococci
Natalja Haninger-Vacariu, the first vice president and chairwoman of the medical association for Vienna, speaks of a serious step backwards in patient care. The pediatrician in training and internist warns: “We don’t want to be set back decades. In the past, there were significantly fewer medications available for bacterial infections and it was often not possible to provide targeted treatment. State of the art is the responsible use of antibiotics, with the aim of optimal antibiotic therapy with maximum effect and minimal development of resistance. Austria – and especially Vienna as the capital with a correspondingly high number of patients – needs stable security of supply that can compensate for acute problems in production and supply chains. Health Minister Johannes Rauch must push for the rapid implementation of the recently presented EU concept against medication shortages. National emergency stockpiles of active ingredients can only be a short-term solution. Strong infection seasons such as 2022/23, but also 2023/24, make the delivery bottlenecks even more noticeable. We shouldn’t have to withhold the best possible treatment from our patients.”
Pediatrician George Zabaneh, Section chairman of the Vienna Medical Association of Doctors who are authorized to practice independently, outlines the current problems: “We have recently received repeated reports that Ospen, especially in the form of juice, has not been available in Austria for weeks. Unfortunately, this happens with a high infection rate with group A beta-hemolytic streptococci. In children, these are among the most common bacterial infectious diseases, causing scarlet fever or angina tonsillaris as well as middle ear infections. For children in particular, non-targeted therapy with antibiotics increases the risk of resistance developing later in life. It is already a growing problem in medicine when certain germs no longer respond to antibiotics, as is the case with the problematic germs MRSA, 3-MRGN or VRE. Augmentin, one of the available antibiotics, only has a Polish leaflet. There are obviously difficulties in purchasing or procuring important medications for the Austrian market. This is one of the many problems that we pediatricians have to deal with.”
Questions & Contact:
Medical Association for Vienna Benjamin Weiser, MA +436648238098 weiser@aekwien.at
