Saline shortages are threatening to worsen due to an acute shortage in the United States following Hurricane Helene.
“As a result of the withdrawal of infusion solutions from Germany and Europe to the USA, the situation here, across all container shapes and formats, can become even worse,” said a spokeswoman for the pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi to the newspapers of the Germany editorial network (RND, Friday editions). “Helene” damaged the largest production site in the USA for infusion solutions.
Hospitals in Germany are already complaining about delivery bottlenecks. The reason for this was, on the one hand, problems with the production of the injection bottles, explained the spokeswoman. “Fresenius Kabi reported a supply shortage of isotonic saline solutions in glass bottles (50ml and 100ml) to the relevant authorities at the beginning of March and the end of May,” she continued. “The reason for this was a delivery bottleneck at one of our glass bottle suppliers. Since then, we have been supplying our customers with around 80 percent of the average requirements of the last few months.”
In addition, Fresenius Kabi blames the increased demand in the market for isotonic saline solutions for the shortage. Due to demographic change, an increasing number of operations and inventory levels, demand is increasing, “while there are only a few manufacturers left on the market,” the spokeswoman continued.
“Helene” made landfall in Florida at the end of September and then moved through several states in the southeastern United States. More than 230 people died as a result of “Helene”, numerous buildings were damaged or completely destroyed, and large areas were flooded. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, “Helene” was the most serious storm in the region in 50 years.