The shortage of medicines is a major problem throughout the EU, and the number of medicines listed as remaining in Sweden increased by over 50 percent in 2022. According to the Swedish Medicines Agency, the shortage of medicines can pose a threat to patient safety.
And now the National Board of Health and Welfare is issuing a new recommendation where patients are urged to have a month’s supply of medicine in the medicine cabinet at home.
– This is aimed at those who have a chronic illness where it is extremely important that I have my medicine with me, that I don’t wait until the last days to take out the new one but maybe go a couple of weeks before, says Health Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson (KD).
This applies to self-preparedness
The recommendation applies from 1 March 2023 and covers patients with a need for continuous drug treatment for a longer period of time. The recommendation should therefore not be interpreted as a call for the general public to stockpile medicines.
– This is part of a larger work where we all need to ensure that we both as individuals get a little more self-preparedness, that pharmacies, regions and municipalities but also pharmaceutical companies ensure that they have better preparedness, because we have problems today , says Ankarberg.
Watch the clip in the player above.