Hospitals across the United States are scrambling to manage shortages of intravenous fluids after Hurricane Helen forced the closure of a major facility that produces most of the country’s supply. The facility also supplies intravenous fluids to Canadian hospitals.
Baxter International, a medical technology company that supplies hospitals with 60 percent of the US stock of intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions, was forced to close its doors at the end of September after Hurricane Helen devastated the southeastern coast of the United States.
The medical company also supplies intravenous fluids to Canada but so far no shortages have been reported. There is one Baxter manufacturing facility in Ontario.
A Nova Scotia Health spokesperson told Global News on Wednesday that although its hospitals are receiving intravenous fluid supplies from Baxter, they have not yet experienced any shortages.
“Baxter has not informed us of any issues with its products, and there has been no impact on intravenous supplies at Nova Scotia health facilities,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Global News asked Baxter International whether supplies could be diverted from its Canadian facility to the United States. The spokesperson provided a link to the company’s statement and did not directly address this specific question.
Global News has also reached out to Health Canada regarding this issue but has not yet received a response.
Intravenous fluids They are fluids given directly into a vein through an intravenous drip or injection. They help maintain or restore the patient’s fluid balance, deliver medications and provide essential nutrients.
The shortage occurred after Hurricane Helen made landfall in Florida on September 26 and spread across the southeastern United States, unleashing strong winds and deadly flooding that created a path of destruction that stretched more than 500 miles from Florida to the southern Appalachians.
The storm destroyed roads and destroyed homes, leaving hundreds missing and many confirmed dead. On September 29, Baxter announced that its North Cove, North Carolina, facility had flooded, forcing it to halt production.
“The effects of Hurricane Helen led to a temporary supply outage at the Baxter facility in Marion, North Carolina,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said. This was stated in a press release on Wednesday.
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“The Baxter facility provides a significant portion of the intravenous fluids, irrigation fluids, and peritoneal solutions to the U.S. medical system. There is currently a shortage of normal saline IV fluids, normal saline irrigation fluids, sterile water irrigation, and dextrose at 5 percent of the IV fluids that preceded Hurricane Helen. Hurricane-related supply disruptions at the Baxter facility will likely lead to further restrictions on intravenous fluids.
Hurricane Milton, expected to reach Florida on Wednesday, could also disrupt the intravenous fluid supply chain, the US health agency said.
On Wednesday, Baxter provided an update on its facility, outlining steps to manage inventory and reduce disruptions to patient care. This includes reducing stockpiling, while raising allocations to children’s hospitals to 100 percent, the company added.
Baxter said it will also increase U.S. allocations of its intravenous fluids to direct customers to 60 percent from 40 percent and to distributors to 60 percent from 10 percent, effective Wednesday.
“Our goal remains to return customers to 100 percent customization levels as soon as possible. This will be achieved through a combination of importing products from other Baxter facilities, resuming operations and expanding production at our North Cove facility,” the company stated.
Use Gatorade instead of intravenous fluid
Dr. Paul Biddinger, an emergency physician at Mass General Brigham Hospital in Boston, said during a news conference last week that the hospital is only receiving about 40 percent of its usual intravenous fluid supply from Baxter.
Bedinger said Mass General Brigham, which has 12 hospitals, gives some patients water or Gatorade instead of starting IV therapy. He added that anyone who needs an intravenous injection can still receive it, and that the system’s clinical services are operating normally.
“It is too early to say what will happen if this continues for several weeks or months, but we have systems and plans in place so we can deal with this,” he said.
American Hospital Association (AHA) on Monday Issue a statement Saying she was very concerned about the factory closing due to damage caused by the hurricane. The association also expressed concern after Baxter and other IV solution suppliers implemented strict order customization processes for their customers and stopped accepting new customers.
“As a result, our members are already reporting significant shortages of these life-saving and life-sustaining products,” the statement said. “Patients across America are already feeling this impact, which will deepen in the coming days and weeks unless more is done to mitigate the situation and minimize the impact on patient care.”
In response to the shortage, the AMA urged the U.S. government to take immediate action to increase the supply of intravenous solutions for hospitals and called for a national emergency to be declared under the National Emergency Act.
Based in Virginia UVA Health University Medical Center She said she would postpone some elective surgeries for the coming days due to a lack of intravenous fluids. She added that full recovery “may take several weeks.”
Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center told Reuters in a statement that as a result of the outage, “to effectively maintain intravenous fluids, we have implemented contingency plans and are reviewing our intravenous needs” while they look for other ways to obtain intravenous fluids. Fluids.
—With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
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