An amber alert has been issued by New South Wales health officials for certain dosages of a life-saving, blood-thinning drug and a sleep-inducing anaesthetic.
A NSW health safety notice has been sent to all clinicians to advise that the Australian registered medicine heparin sodium 5000 units/5 mL injection is in short supply due to manufacturing issues.
Heparin is an anticoagulant used for the treatment and prevention of venous and arterial thromboembolic disease, treatment of acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation and prosthetic heart valves.
It is also used to prevent and treat blood clots in the lungs and legs.
Australian Medical Association NSW president Michael Bonning said it was a concern.
"Medications like heparin are critically important for the running of hospitals and delivering the right medications to the right patients in hospital," Dr Bonning said.
Warfarin is an oral alternative that helps prevent blood clots from developing in veins and arteries.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) says there are shortages of some dosages of that drug as well.
In a statement, NSW Health said it is: "aware of and responding to the national disruption to supply of heparin and expects normal supply to resume over the coming months."
The TGA lists the shortage for the heparin dose as critical, and supplies will not return until the end of June.
Anaesthetic shortage
A second amber safety alert has been issued by NSW Health, this time relating to the registered medicine suxamethonium chloride (Juno) 100 mg/2 mL injection, which is also currently unavailable due to manufacturing issues.
The drug is used for skeletal muscle relaxation in anaesthesia where brief paralysis is required.
There are alternatives but not for some conditions.
As a result, clinicians are being urged to quarantine remaining supplies for procedures where a short duration of paralysis is required, such as in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
"It's very important in certain procedures, including ECT. We need to conserve the supply of suxamethonium for those patients who absolutely need it," Dr Bonning said.
NSW Health said supplies of this drug were also critically low and it hoped normal supplies would resume in the months ahead.
Currently 379 medicines are on the TGA's medicine shortage database.
But Dr Bonning said there was optimism ahead.
"As of July, drug manufacturers are required to hold six months' supply of drugs in Australia for designated PBS medications under what's called a Medicines Supply Security guarantee," he said.
"That's a new initiative, and it is one that will hopefully make Australia's supply more dependable, but also not result in shortages that then have to be dealt with rapidly."
Of the TGA's shortage database 49 medications are listed as critically low in supply.
