Salbutamol is the active ingredient in inhalers used by asthma patients of all ages. More than 860 thousand people use this medicine. The medication helps them breathe better when they are short of breath. Salbutamol is available in spray and powder form. The decrease is greater with spraying. More than half a million people (550,000) use this spray.
About 85,000 children under the age of six depend on this spray, because they are not yet able to adequately inhale the asthma medication powder. A spray is also necessary for some frail older people.
To keep the spray as available as possible for patients who really depend on it, patients ages 6 to 12 and patients over 75 are switched to their asthma medication in powder form as much as possible. Patients over 12 years of age and under 75 years of age are in principle dependent on this anyway.
Concerned parents
The Lung Trust says it has received hundreds of reports from patients and parents who are very concerned about the shortage.
Without the spray, 6-year-old Sam ended up in hospital, his mother Hester told RTL News. “Sam has an asthma attack every two to three weeks. Then he uses a full puffer. There's been talk of using powder, but he doesn't actually have the strength for that yet.”
When she recently received no new salbutamol from her pharmacy, Hester was shocked. “Then I put out a plea on Facebook. As a result, I received a swell eight through my contacts. This will keep us going for a while.”
No one dares to say with certainty when exactly the problem will be solved. It could take months, warns Lung Trust president and former pediatrician Karolyi Ely. “The situation is very dangerous,” he says. “Among all the EU countries, the Netherlands gets the cake, but the problems also exist abroad. In most countries they hardly get it on their own. That's why they are not ready to supply us with medicines.”
The Ministry of Health attributed this shortage to a technical problem in the production process. It is not known how long it will take before the issue is resolved.
