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For two months, parents and caregivers across Canada have faced a shortage of children’s pain and fever medication. This shortage is placing additional stress on families and the health system as more Albertans are visiting pharmacies, physicians and hospitals.
To ensure children’s pain and fever medication is readily available across the province and bring relief to children and families, Alberta’s government and Alberta Health Services have secured a supply of five million units of acetaminophen and ibuprofen from Atabay Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals.
“Cold and flu season is always difficult on young children and their families and causes additional strain on our health system, especially at our children’s hospitals. The shortage of children’s pain relief medication is exacerbating these challenges and causing a tremendous amount of anxiety for families," said Premier Danielle Smith. "We are working cooperatively with Health Canada and I urge them to expedite all necessary approvals in the coming days so we can load this massive shipment of pain relief medication onto the airplanes we’ve secured to bring this pain relief medication to Alberta families and children. This is how cooperative federalism should work.”
Alberta’s government and Alberta Health Services are working with Health Canada on completing the drug establishment licensing approval process. Once the approval is granted, the medication will be delivered to Alberta over 10 air shipments. As soon as the medication arrives in the province, it will be distributed to the community and retail pharmacies so that parents and caregivers can purchase it for their children. Because Alberta’s government has secured so many bottles of pain and fever medication, it is expected that Albertans will be able to find it on pharmacy shelves in the same way they have previously found name-brand medicines. However, individual pharmacies will have the ability to issue the medicine from behind the counter if they are concerned about their store’s supply.
“I want to thank Alberta Health Services for taking on the task of procuring this valuable medication and all our healthcare professionals during this challenging time," said Minister of Health Jason Copping.
"The current situation has also meant busy hospitals and doctors’ offices, as parents run out of options to treat their little ones. The strain on our system is real, and we are doing everything in our power to ease the burden on our healthcare system in whatever way we can.”
Atabay Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals already has Health Canada approval for its raw ingredients and currently sends the same doses that Alberta is working to acquire to other nations like the United States and the United Kingdom.
