BERLIN (AFP) – Paediatricians from European countries have raised the alarm over a shortage of medicines for children including antibiotics and asthma treatment, warning it was endangering health.
In a letter addressed to health ministers and seen by AFP on Saturday, the doctors stressed it was “urgent to find a fast, reliable and lasting solution” to the problems facing stocks in Europe.
“The health of our children and our youngsters is in danger because of the lack of medicines throughout Europe,” they wrote.
The letter was addressed to the health ministers of Austria, France, Germany, the Italian region of South Tyrol and Switzerland.
It was co-signed notably by French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics President Andreas Werner, his German counterpart Thomas Fischbach and head of the European Confederation of Primary Care Paediatricians Laura Reali.
The doctors said it was the responsibility of political decision-makers to guarantee sufficient production and supply to ensure medicines were available for basic paediatric care.
