Roseau, Dominica.
An acute shortage of anesthetic drugs has forced authorities at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) to scale back on non emergency surgeries.
However Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Johnson, is insisting this is just a short term problem.
“We are currently facing a low supply of some our anesthetic drugs at the Hospital, that I can confirm. And therefore we had to make certain management decisions in terms of how we proceed. So the decision that was taken is to scale back on doing selective surgery at the Hospital for now … that is for a short period of time,” Johnson.
He noted the problem surfaced over the last few days” since the authorities are facing some challenges in terms of sourcing some of our anesthetic drugs from our normal suppliers.
Johnson stressed that the company that supplies the drugs to Dominica are also facing challenges in terms of their own stock of anesthetic drugs.
Dr. Johnson gave the assurance that the drug will be in Dominica soon.
“I have been in contact with the Hospital Chief Pharmacist and have been reassured that one of the major drugs that are low is on its way to Dominica and should be there most likely by Friday” he stated.
“And hopefully the situation in terms of having to scale back on doing non emergency surgeries at the hospital should be rectified", Johnson added.
He pointed out that the issue is not unique to Dominica. “The situation as it relates to Dominica and its shortage of anesthetic drugs is not only common in Dominica,” explained
. “What we found out is that there seems to be, even on the international scene, some challenges as it relates to some anesthetic drugs. In fact there are some of the anesthetic drugs that we are using all the while that is no longer being produced on the international market", says Johnson..
To make the matters worst, Johnson said some anesthetic drugs are narcotic drugs which may fall into the wrong hands. Because of that they are tightly controlled by the International Narcotics Board.
“And therefore because all of those situations are on the increase there is tightening up on the security system with regards to these narcotic drugs … Dominica is obviously being affected,” the Chief Medical Officer said.
