Calgary pharmacy continues to stock Turkish children's pain-relief medicine ordered in 2022 during national shortage

The province still has a huge supply of a Turkish children’s pain-relief medicine that was procured in 2022 during a countrywide shortage.

According to Aberta’s health minister’s office, of the 1.25 million bottles of the imported children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen that was made available to Alberta pharmacies, fewer than 5,000 bottles have been ordered.

One Calgary London Drugs still sells the Turkish liquid acetaminophen “Parol”, with an expiry date of 2026.

But it must be kept behind the counter, and pharmacists are required to go over proper dosage use with customers.

The province paid $80 million for five million bottles of the fever-and pain-relief medicine.

Health Canada had to approve the sale, which also required the bottles to be re-labelled.

Some of that supply was also designated for hospitals, which saw a surge in child illnesses in 2022 during the pandemic.

The province paid $80 million for five million bottles of the childrens’ fever and pain relief medicine.

By the time the medication was readily available in 2023, the shortage was essentially over and the liquid acetaminophen “Parol” was also discontinued in Alberta neo-natal intensive-care units due to feeding tube clogging issues.

Of the five-million-bottle supply, Alberta kept 1.5 million and the province said it was sharing the rest with the other provinces.

The province told CTV that the remaining supply continues to be available to pharmacies, and may be ordered and subsequently sold to Albertans during the coming respiratory season. It’s also looking at options for how the remainder of the contract will be used.