Top pharmacist sounds the alarm "The drug shortages will be massive"

Switzerland is facing a massive shortage of medicines this winter. Up to 1000 medicines are missing, warns the top pharmacist.

Martine Ruggli from the Pharmasuisse pharmacists' association warns of a massive shortage of medicines in winter.

In an interview with SRF, Ruggli explains that the relocation of production abroad - particularly to China and India - has exacerbated the situation. In addition, many people fall ill at the same time in winter. "The bottlenecks for medicines that are in high demand will be massive," says Ruggli.

Antibiotics in particular will no longer be available if there are massive supply bottlenecks. "There is a shortage of between 700 and 1000 medicines," warns Ruggli. Medicines would be missing in the long term in the event of a shortage. "We used to have short shortages, but today they are missing for six months or even two years."

Inexpensive medicines particularly affected

The pharmacist president is now calling for price increases for low-cost medicines in order to secure supplies. This is because low-cost medicines are particularly affected by the supply bottlenecks. She is convinced: "The population would rather pay a few centimes more per tablet so that important medicines are available."

Ruggli is convinced that the price increase for cheap medicines has no effect on the development of premiums. Only a few medications are responsible for the rising costs. "Two percent of all medicines account for half of the costs, for example expensive cancer drugs," says Ruggli. These would have a much greater impact.