Saline Scarcity Hits U.S. Hospitals and Dialysis Centers

U.S. hospitals and dialysis centers are facing a severe shortage of intravenous saline bags causing a rationing in usage to manage supplies.

The U.S Food and Drug Administration said it was working with manufacturers - Baxter International Inc, Hospira Inc and B. Braun Medical Inc, who have stepped up the production of IV solutions to deal with the shortage. Health care providers have notified hospitals to use smaller bags of IV for patients and to reserve supplies for the seriously ill,  said Valerie Jenson , FDA's associate director for drug shortages.

Reuters reports Jenson said, "We have not heard of anyone running out of the IV solutions at this point, but we know the hospitals are not comfortable with the low supplies," Jesons said to Reuters.   Manufacturers had notified FDA late last year that there might be delay in filling orders and since mid-January more than a dozen hospitals each week have reported saline shortage . The ongoing flu season and increase in demand has swelled the severity of shortage.

Bona Benjamin, a senior executive at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, said that healthcare providers are using substitute products like oral hydration fluids or smaller IV bags with slower drip rates when appropriate. Scarcity drove a hospital in the North to request the government for salines from its emergency stockpile, revealed Benjamin.

 " We have heard from our members from all over the country that the shortage is serious and people are able to cobble together enough supply to get by  day-to-day."added Benjamin.

Baxter spokesperson, Deborah Spak, said the company had speeded up production to meet the emergency needs. "Baxter has been manufacturing solutions at maximum capacity in amounts exceeding those of prior years and is making investments to further increase supply in 2014," Spak said.

"We are doing everything we can to meet the increase in demand," said Hospira spokesperson Dan Rosenberg. It is also bringing in shipments to deal with local supply shortages.

The normal production will resume by the second quarter of the year.

FDA also reports that they are looking for alternative sources including overseas suppliers to address the shortage.