The royal decree provides a legal framework for temporarily prohibiting the export of certain essential medicines, on the basis of a list with precise criteria. To date, such a list has not yet been drawn up and published, but the Minister wants to be prepared in the event that the pressure on the supply of medicines in Belgium increases further.
The export ban will apply to urgent and necessary medicines, which have a major impact on the life of the patient and for which no other authorized medicine with the same therapeutic effect is available. It will take place when their unavailability is cataloged by the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products as “likely” Where “certain” for at least a month. “It is our responsibility to ensure that the treatment of people with sometimes life-saving drugs is not interrupted”explained Mr. Vandenbroucke.
Exchange of stock information
The Minister is also working to improve the exchange of information on drug stocks between pharmacies, wholesalers and the pharmaceutical industry in order to be able to intervene quickly if a shortage threatens.
Soon a shortage of antibiotics in Belgium?
On LN24, the minister also returned to the lack of general practitioners. “We are going to invest significant sums in general medicine but also work on reforms at the organizational level. By March or April, there will be proposals for capacity building in general medicine”with budgetary efforts in particular to recruit assistants and nurses to support general practitioners.