Minister hopes for early delivery of asthma puffer, Chamber grumpy about approach

NOS News•today, 5:50 PM

Minister Dijkstra for Medical Care hopes that production of the asthma drug salbutamol aerosol will be restarted within “a few weeks”. She calls the shortage of this puffer for asthma patients a “pressing situation” and says she is working hard on a solution.

The House of Representatives wanted to know from her what exactly she is doing about the shortage of salbutamol, also known as Ventolin. Due to production problems at various European manufacturers, the drug is hardly available in the Netherlands.

The NSC faction, which requested the debate, is particularly concerned about the 85,000 children who use this puffer. They’re too young for other inhalants, experts say. “These children are the most vulnerable and are in dire straits,” said NSC MP Jansen.

Many parties believe that Minister Dijkstra intervened too slowly. Only recently have pharmacists been allowed to temporarily import the medicine from abroad. This measure was taken when manufacturers officially reported that there was a shortage of the raw material of the popular medicine.

The minister emphasizes that many European countries face the same problems and that the solution does not lie in importing from abroad. Only Italy and Romania still have stock, but that is not enough.

Dijkstra believes that it is therefore not possible to build up your own stocks. “If the resources aren’t there, you can’t stockpile.” The minister also believes that producers raised the alarm too late and should have reported the impending shortage earlier.

Many parties, such as VVD, NSC, PVV, D66, are not convinced of the minister’s approach. “If we keep pointing fingers at each other all the time, the problem will not be solved,” said NSC MP Jansen. She wanted a guarantee that Dijkstra would solve the problem within a month, but the minister did not want to give that.

PVV MP Claassen believes that the Netherlands should produce the raw materials for this medicine itself. “That will not solve the problem overnight,” Dijkstra responded. NSC also believes that Dijkstra responded too “relaxed” to the shortage, which the minister firmly rejected. “If I could get the drug out of the ground, I would do it in a heartbeat.”