Problems with the supply of urine bags needed by patients such as those with spinal cord injuries are getting worse.

Far from being solved, the problem of supply of urine bags which was already detected last February and which was alerted by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps) is getting worse. This is reported by entities such as the Platform of Patient Organizations (P.O.P.) and the Spanish Confederation of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities (Cocemfe).

According to the Aemps, the supply problems are due to “closure of a manufacturing plant located in Europe which supplied several companies manufacturing different brands of urine bags”.

In this sense, the organization reports that it has transferred “to the autonomous communities and the General Directorate of the Common Portfolio of SNS services the data of the companies that have alternative urine bags in case it was necessary to establish exceptional financing processessince this supply problem affects urine bags financed by the SNS, but there is availability of this type of bags from other manufacturers.

On May 10, the Platform of Patient Organizations (POP) urged those responsible for the health departments of the autonomous communities to solve the shortage of urine bagswhich negatively impacts the autonomy of the affected, more than 200,000and increases your risk of infections.

Among these 200,000 patients there are a variety of pathologies: oncological diseases, with brain damage, spinal cord injury, people who have undergone prostate surgery…

The president of the POP, Carina Escobarhas indicated to this medium that “The situation is getting worse. Our associative movement has knocked on several doors, especially in the social sphere. The news reaches me through the spinal cord injury patients, who tell me how they are reusing urine bags; “This produces infections in people who already have them regularly and who, in addition, have more problems with antimicrobial resistance.”

Escobar emphasizes that the shortage is occurring in the financed stock exchangesand about this he has spoken both with the Minister of Health, Mónica García, and with the Director of Pharmacy, César Hernández: “Although medicines and products each go one way, in this case they are essential for patients. The The State Attorney’s Office has to give permission so that, until the Royal Decree on Prices and Financing is published, the General Directorate of Portfolio and Pharmacy can increase the price of the financed bags. As it is in the absence of the OK, in the meantime. The option is for the regional health departments to opt for other providers.even if they are not on the list of those financed, and they are looking for a formula to do so.

Javier Fontpresident of the Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Madrid (Famma), explains that they are going “in fits and starts. The pharmacies are administering the bags with a dropper. I am a bag user and I have to recycle them every two days. This is a filth. Right now I have a urine infection, I don’t know if for this reason or for others. Furthermore, the quality of the bags also leaves a lot to be desired.”

Anxo Queirugapresident of the Spanish Confederation of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities (Cocemfe), has also been in talks with the Ministry of Health: “They agreed that the autonomous communities could provide unfinanced products, and they are taking advantage of this which must be authorized by the Ministry. We have been encouraging the autonomous communities to provide this unfinanced product while this problem is resolved,” he explains.

He alludes to what some autonomies do, such as the Basque Country, “and I know that they are also going to do it in Galicia. Hospitals and health centers make large purchases of these bags, with packages of up to 300 bags instead of 30 (they divide them)who are referring patients in special situations that cannot be found in pharmacies.

As detailed, andn Galicia, where he lives, there are 1,900 people who use these bags: “The department is monitoring to see in which health area each of the people who use them are, how many are in demand and how many are not satisfied, in order to also be able to supply from health centers and hospitals, as well as which They are the main companies that supply them, and that are also supplying Europe,” he comments.

Measures in the CCAA

What measures are the autonomous communities taking? The Catalan Health Service (Catsalut) assures this newspaper that they have launched two actions. On the one hand, it has been made easier for pharmacies to dispense different bags financed according to the products they have in stock. stocks in every moment, facilitating substitution between products by community pharmacists, points out.

On the other hand, exceptionally and while there is time for the bag marketing companies to increase the production of financed bags that enter the pharmaceutical channel, they have activated “the corresponding management mechanisms that have allowed for a purchase of 200,000 units for all Siscat patients and that primary care centers can provide directly to affected users. “This purchase was articulated approximately two months ago.”

Catsalut adds that weekly follow-up is being carried out with the General Directorate of Health Planning and Regulation “to monitor the situation and assess whether any additional action is necessary. “There are currently between 12,500 and 13,000 people with active treatment.”.

From the Ministry of Health of Castilla-La Mancha They indicate to this medium that they have carried out exhaustive monitoring of the situation, both with the Aemps and with the General Directorate of the Common Portfolio of SNS and Pharmacy Services, through the Permanent Commission of Pharmacy and the Commission of Benefits, Insurance and Financing. And They continue to closely monitor the evolution of this situation for the benefit of the users of these health products..

“Additionally, at the internal level in the Community there is constant coordination between the competent services of the Ministry of Health and the Sescam. At all times, information on the number of stocks of urine collection bags in pharmaceutical distribution warehouses was available and shared. of Castilla-La Mancha as well as in management”, they emphasize.

However, they indicate that to prevent patients from Castilla-La Mancha from being affected by this situation “a purchase of bags was made urine collectors either from bed or leg, that have been supplied to patients directly from the management (health centers and primary care offices), while there has been a shortage in the market.

In Navarra, the provision of urine bags is being guaranteed to users who need them, “either from pharmacies or from health centers.” He Navarra Department of Health clarifies to this newspaper that “The centralized warehouse of the Navarrese Health Service has at no time been exposed to urine bags. Today it has stocks of 2-liter urine bags with and without tap, and 750-milliliter leg urine bags. At the same time, there are orders in progress pending receipt.”

In Castilla y León, both the consumption and supply of urine bags have been monitored for weeks: “The specific situations that have arisen have been resolved through the Health management of Sacyl. “Weekly consumption remains stable.”

However, since the Ministry of Health of Castilla y León they clarify that “if a reduction in said consumption was observed, the necessary actions would be implementedin order to respond to the needs of patients in the event that supply difficulties increase”.

Antonio Blanesdirector of Pharmaceutical Services of the General Council of Pharmacistsindicates that “In some autonomous communities, alternative solutions have been implemented, as in the case of the Basque Countrywith the enabling of emergency protocols for the exceptional financing of some products, such as unfunded urine bags, to be able to deal with supply incidents.”

Blanes details that Already in February they addressed the Aemps and the Ministry of Health, explaining the situation and the difficulty in finding financed alternatives for the replacement by the pharmacist. of similar products. “That is why we offered to study solutions that would make it possible to provide these products to patients who need them by implementing the necessary measures,” he says.

The General Council assures that they are monitoring this situation through their Medicine Supply Information Center (CisMED), “since we noticed the first incidents and brought it to the attention of the Aemps.”

Blanes adds that “The measures taken by the health authorities have allowed these incidents to be reduced, although many errors continue to occur of these products during these last few weeks.