Over 2.5 million people in the Netherlands were affected by the shortage of medicines last year when 1,563 drugs became (temporarily) unavailable, pharmacy organisation KNMP has said.

Although the situation was slightly better than in 2023, chairman Aris Prins said the upward trend of the last 10 years shows no signs of abating.

In 193 cases the medication was life-saving, such as salbutamol, used in asthma attacks. A further 669 essential medicines were temporarily unavailable.

Prins said shortages are down to health insurers strategy. The price deals they make with pharmaceutical companies mean pharmacies are tied to specific medications or the insurer won’t pay out.

“There’s nothing wrong with negotiating a lower price but if that results in a lack of medicines it is no good,” he told the AD. And although millions of euros have been saved, the extra cost of trying to source alternatives has never been calculated, Prins said.

Talks about changing the system are ongoing but any results won’t have an effect until 2027 at the earliest, he said.

One of the solutions, proposed by independent medicine knowledge centre IVM, is to use left-over medication which is currently destroyed.

A survey among patients has shown they are not averse to taking medication that has been handed in but pharmacists have their doubts because the quality of the drugs cannot be guaranteed.