Antibiotic, the deficiency of which was not noticed by Roszdravnadzor, is still not available in pharmacies

Yekaterina Maksimova

The press service of Roszdravnadzor then responded to reports of a shortage of drugs based on amoxicillin in pharmacies. The department officially stated that there is no shortage of such drugs, and they are on sale.

“Roszdravnadzor, together with the Ministry of Health of Russia, controls the situation with the provision of medicines to citizens and the actual availability of certain groups of medicines. So, according to the websites of large pharmacy chains, there is a wide selection of drugs [based on amoxicillin] available for free sale”, - Roszdravnadzor assured ( TASS quote).

Such a statement was made on November 8, but since then Amoxiclav has not appeared on sale. This can be easily confirmed by going around or calling pharmacies. Or try to use the services of services for ordering medicines "EApteka" and Apteka.ru. The answer will be one: the drug is not available. As there is no "Amoxicillin + Clavulanic Acid Express".

Medical workers interviewed by NI confirm that Amoxiclav is still in short supply. “In recent weeks, patients have faced the lack of amoxicillin / clavulanate in pharmacies. This causes a lot of inconvenience and slows down treatment, but there is a way out of this problem, ”commented the therapist, cardiologist at the Nearmedic clinic on Simonovsky Val, Polina Savina . And there is only one way out - to prescribe analogues to patients. This, clarifies Polina Savina, antibiotics of other groups (macrolides, fluoroquinolones, cephalosporins).

Therapist, cardiologist of the telemedicine company MK "Doctor Nearby" Yulia Fokina agrees with her colleague that in most cases the missing drug can be replaced with generics (analogues) or drugs from other groups with a similar effect, but with a reservation.

“In case of a real need to prescribe an antibiotic, for example, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, you can replace the drug with another group of antibiotics according to the spectrum of the suspected or identified pathogen in the absence of allergies. For example, cephalosporins or macrolides. However, if this phenomenon becomes widespread, we may get new problems with antibiotic resistance”, - Yulia Fokina believes.

The scientific director of the network of clinics for immunorehabilitation and preventive medicine Grand Clinic Olga Shuppo notes that the shortage of some popular antibiotics is the least of the problems. “The situation with hormonal drugs is more complicated. Most of the drugs that are present on the market are foreign-made. And there are no transdermal modern Russian forms of hormones”, - added Olga Shuppo.

NI reported that, according to Roszdravnadzor, more than 16.7 million packages of drugs based on amoxicillin were put into circulation this year, including 13 million of domestic production. Roszdravnadzor clarified that at the moment there are more than 14.8 million packages of such drugs in civilian circulation. But where do they go then?

In the Ministry of Industry and Trade, where the fact of a shortage of antibiotics was previously confirmed, the shortage of Amoxiclav in early November was explained by the increased demand for the drug due to the seasonal rise in the incidence, as well as the fact that citizens buy medicines “in reserve”, despite the fact that the drug is prescription.

Doctors unanimously remind that an antibiotic is a serious drug and is prescribed by a doctor according to strict indications. “It is necessary to consult with the attending physician to decide on the choice of an alternative antibiotic,” emphasizes Polina Savina. “It would not be superfluous to recall that in case of viral infections, prescribing and taking an antibiotic is not advisable”, - said Yulia Fokina, a therapist at the Doctor Nearby clinic.