B.C. parents, doctors get creative amid children’s pain medicine shortage
Posted November 9, 2022 3:37 pm.
Last Updated November 9, 2022 3:38 pm.
The ongoing shortage of children’s pain medication has some B.C. parents and physicians finding creative and kind ways to help each other out.
Vancouver parent Susan Tran says her family can’t go without pain meds because their eight-year-old has regular surgeries. She says she relies on the BC Children’s Hospital pharmacy for her stock.
“Right now, we are on our last bottle — so I’m already on the lookout to stock up. I think that’s the only thing we can do,” she told CityNews.
Canada has been mired in a shortage of children’s pain medication, like kids’ Tylenol and Advil, for the past few months. Health Canada attributes the shortage to an unprecedented demand for acetaminophen and ibuprofen products in the summer. The health agency says production of the medicine has been ramped up to “record levels.”
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As the shortage continues, Tran says she has become the source for pain medication for other parents.
“If your child is sick and you have to go to six different stores, sometimes you don’t have transportation to do that,” she said.
Meanwhile, Vancouver physician Dr. Anna Wolak says she’s part of a group chat with fellow physicians where they discuss where the medicine is available.
“Partly, physicians are crowd-sourcing for their own kids but we’re also trying to help our patients,” she said. “It’s like an underground network of ‘this is where you can buy things.'”
Wolak says the group is able to point parents to where they can find medication.
One of those methods, Tran says, is crossing the border and buying from U.S. pharmacies. While she herself hasn’t made the trip, she’s heard of other parents who have.
CityNews reached out to some pharmacies in Washington, which said they have a limited supply of children’s pain medications. They note they haven’t seen an influx of Canadians buying their stock up.
With files from John Marchesan
