A Calgary pharmacist is welcoming the Alberta Government’s procurement of five million bottles of children’s pain and fever medication as demand skyrockets and pharmacies struggle to fill their shelves.
“I think the government is doing its best, so I think they should keep working and bring more stock,” said Mubeen Sadiq, pharmacist and owner of the Pharmedic Pharmacy on Macleod Trail S.W.
Sadiq said right now, his pharmacy is managing with the supply it has, but he would still like to see more.
“We have about 15 bottles sitting here. We have generic Tylenol, we have brand Tylenol,” he said.
Sadiq’s pharmacy is also able to do compounding, meaning it can customize and make its own medication — a process many other qualified pharmacies have turned to as they deal with supply shortages.
CTV News spoke to 10 pharmacies in Calgary on Tuesday.
About half say they have some supply, while the rest say they have nothing and don’t know when they’ll get more.
On Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping announced their government has secured five million bottles of children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen that will be distributed across the province and any extra will be shared with the rest of the country.
The supplier, Turkey-based Atabay Pharmaceutical and Fine Chemicals, has sold to dozens of markets in Europe and around the world.
Health Canada still needs to approve the medication.
“Once approvals are in place, which 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 days,” Copping said.
Just last month, Health Canada began importing and distributing one million bottles of children’s pain reliever medication to hospitals, pharmacies and other retailers across the country.
“There is now a supply of Tylenol in the province and pharmacists are predominantly mostly keeping it behind the counter so that they can interact with each parent or patient that is seeking it and do proper patient assessment,” said Margaret Wing, CEO of the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association.
However, Wing says it’s still not enough to meet the demand here and across the country, but she hopes this new procurement will be.
The province is expecting to pay a premium for the five million bottles and will subsidize the cost so that pharmacies can sell them at the “average retail price.”
The total cost to taxpayers hasn’t been set.
“We want to make sure parents have access to the medication that they need because if (children) can’t break the fever, they end up in the hospital rooms and that is what’s causing the pressure on our hospitals, not here but across the country,” Smith said.
Some, including the Alberta NDP, call this a step in the right direction, but say more needs to be done.
Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician in Calgary, said the medication will be a relief to families, but it won’t ease the pressure on hospitals.
“Kids are being admitted to the hospital because they’re sick. They’re sick with sepsis, they’re sick with respiratory failure, they can’t breathe and no amount of painkiller or anti-fever medication is going to fix that,” he told CTV News.
A political commentator says the Alberta government is also showing what it can do without Ottawa.
“This could fit into that larger narrative of the Alberta government sort of talking about what Alberta can and should be doing for itself and sort of being critical of the federal government for not being able to accomplish as much,” said Lori Williams.
“I don’t think parents care which government is acting to help treat illnesses and their children – all they care about is the health and welfare of their children.”
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
The World Health Organization will announce Monday whether it thinks COVID-19 still represents a global health emergency but Canada's top doctor says regardless of what the international body decides, Canada's response to the coronavirus will not change.
Hyundai cars in Canada don't have the same anti-theft issue compared to those in the United States, a company spokesperson says, following reports that two American auto insurers are refusing to write policies for older models.
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader accused of sexually assaulting four of his female followers between 2017 and 2020 made his first court appearance in Edmonton.
New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters experienced systemic discrimination and sexual assault.
An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
In trying to prevent a large tax increase, Halifax councillors face another problem. They have to find more than $13 million in savings -- that means cuts.
The chief of the Williams Lake First Nation says he would support excavating possible unmarked graves at the site of the former St. Joseph's Mission residential school if that's what elders and the community decide is best.
A water main which broke and flooded a major downtown Toronto intersection 140 years after it went into the ground is a reminder that city infrastructure needs constant upkeep, an expert says.
People can pay tribute to former Ontario lieutenant-governor David Onley this weekend as he lies in state for two days at the legislature before his funeral Monday.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
The Francois Legault government announced the formation of an interdepartmental 'action group' on the French language to find ways to halt the 'decline' of the language in Quebec.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it expects as many as 500 people to gather on Parliament Hill for an event this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary since the start of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shut down a section of a Perth County roadway Friday after they say a passerby discovered a body in the area overnight.
A Kitchener elementary school is responding to reports of a suspicious man who appeared to be watching or following students on two separate occasions.
Sixteen Scottish curlers and 16 Canadians squared off against each other Friday morning as part of the 2023 Strathcona Cup, a tournament taking place across Canada.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
The body of a 29-year-old Sudbury nurse was recovered Wednesday night from a lake near Parry Sound after her snowmobile went through the ice, police say.
A Saskatchewan man who had his charges stayed based on pandemic delays in court will be headed back for trial, after a ruling from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
Three downtown business organizations are advocating for the City of Regina to locate a new multi-purpose events centre and central library branch in the downtown core.
