Alberta secures 5 million bottles of children's pain and fever meds to distribute across province, then country
Alberta secures 5 million bottles of children's pain and fever meds to distribute across province, then country
Alberta Health Services has procured five million bottles of children's acetaminophen and ibuprofen and will distribute the drugs first across the province, then across Canada, the Alberta government says.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping made the announcement Tuesday morning, speaking at a downtown Edmonton drug store.
"In the days ahead, we will be working closely with Alberta Health Services and Health Canada to expedite the approval process and get this additional supply to Canada and onto Alberta pharmacy shelves and into hospitals as quickly as possible," Copping told reporters.
"Once approvals are in place, we should only be a few weeks. The medication will be sent to us in a number of shipments. When a shipment is received, the bottles will be available for ordering by pharmacies across the province and distributed within a couple of days."
Smith added, "You can feel confident that we are all moving as quickly as we can so Alberta families can get what they need."
The Alberta government is expecting to pay a premium for the drugs and will subsidize the cost so that pharmacies can sell them "at the average retail price."
A final price tag was not available on Tuesday, as the government was still finalizing its contract with the supplier.
The supplier, Atabay Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals, has sold to dozens of markets in Europe and around the world for decades, Smith and Copping said.
ALBERTA WILL SHARE EXTRA PRODUCT
According to Copping, once Alberta pharmacies and hospitals are stocked, the province will work with Health Canada to determine how to share the remaining supply with other jurisdictions.
The medication still needs to be manufactured. Then, Copping expects Health Canada's approval to import the medication will take two to three weeks, with shipments to Alberta starting soon after that.
"We're going to be working very hard at that and, again, have had conversations with the federal government to fast-track the approvals, so the good news is this is not an unknown entity to Health Canada," Copping said of the medication supplier. "They've already provided the certificates on that and again, pleased to be working with the federal government to move this as quickly as possible."
Drug shortages in Canada dating back to last spring have been exacerbated in recent months by soaring demand amid surges of flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases, as well as lingering pandemic supply chain snags, The Canadian Press has reported.
On Tuesday, a House of Commons health committee criticized Health Canada officials for not handling the situation more quickly or effectively. As many as 800 drugs – including 23 that are considered critical – are currently in short supply in Canada, Linsey Hollett, the director of health product compliance for Health Canada, told the committee.
The drug procurement comes as Alberta's hospital system is struggling to handle the rise in illness, especially at children's hospitals.
In recent days, the government has redeployed staff and taken other steps to increase capacity, but Smith said the pain and fever medication is part of her plan, too.
"That is why we want to make sure parents have access to the medication that they need, because if they can't break the fever, they end up in the hospital rooms, and that is what's causing the pressures in our hospitals not here, but across the entire country," Smith said. "I think that our job in providing health services is to make sure that people have the medication that they need so they can treat at home and also make sure that the hospitals are able to deal with patients efficiently when they show up."
Pharmacies will be able to sell the product from behind the counter if they are concerned about hoarding, government officials said.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Saif Kaisar and The Canadian Press
The federal government is seeking to delay the extension of assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole condition is a mental disorder until March 17, 2024. Justice Minister David Lametti introduced a bill seeking the extension in the House of Commons on Thursday.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Will we see six more weeks of winter, or an early spring? Here’s what some of the groundhogs (and one human) have predicted so far, from coast-to-coast.
Nestle Canada says it is winding down its frozen meals and pizza business in Canada over the next six months. The four brands that will no longer be sold in the freezer aisle at Canadian grocery stores are Delissio, Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine and Life Cuisine.
The United States has answered President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plea for rockets that can strike deep behind the front lines of the nearly year-long conflict with Russia. Now Russian forces will need to adapt or face potentially catastrophic losses.
Australia is removing the monarchy from its bank notes. The nation's new $5 bill will feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall theft.
Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome was packed to the rafters with fans eager to take a look at Canadian phenom Connor Bedard and the 17-year-old did not fail to impress.
A former professional hockey player well-known for dropping the gloves is trying his hand at acting and will star in another season of the Canadian sitcom Shoresy.
Paramedic logs from 2022 are highlighting some of the pressures Regina EMS workers have been facing for months including one instance where a patient died following offload delays at the hospital, the documents indicate.
Calgary's Scotiabank Saddledome was packed to the rafters with fans eager to take a look at Canadian phenom Connor Bedard and the 17-year-old did not fail to impress.
On the day that Shubenacadie Sam predicted six more weeks of winter, there are warnings and statements cautioning that the coldest air of the season is about to arrive in the Maritimes.
Ontario has released a new 'connected' and 'convenient' health-care plan aimed at shortening wait times and localizing access to care across the province.
Three Richmond Hill residents have been arrested after police seized $500,000 in fake gift cards from a “sophisticated forgery lab” while searching multiple local properties last month.
A polar vortex is descending over Ontario this week and some of the coldest weather is still to come. Wind chills will also reach dangerous levels, increasing the risk of frostbite.
The next few nights are expected to be frigid in Montreal, with wind chill factors dropping to -30. In order to prevent anyone experiencing homelessness from ending up outdoors, the City of Montreal is announcing the opening of two emergency shelters.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall theft.
Ottawa ranks 45th out of 62 cities across Canada and the United States in a study on downtown recovery, with activity levels at 51 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Ontario has released a new 'connected' and 'convenient' health-care plan aimed at shortening wait times and localizing access to care across the province.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
Highway 11 in northern Ontario is closed Thursday morning from Highway 66 near Kenogami Lake to Matheson after a collision involving several vehicles, police say.
The federal government is seeking to delay the extension of assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole condition is a mental disorder until March 17, 2024. Justice Minister David Lametti introduced a bill seeking the extension in the House of Commons on Thursday.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
The over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada's justice system and the number of deaths of Indigenous people at the hands of police has the vice-chief of national Indigenous organization up in arms.
A pair of provincial parks are being considered in the B.C. government's treaty negotiations with the T’Sou-ke and Songhees nations on Vancouver Island.
A homicide investigation is underway on Quadra Island, B.C., after a 39-year old woman was found dead in what investigators believe was a targeted killing.
