Popular Articles
Today Week Month Year


IV fluid shortage hits hospitals after Hurricane Helene shuts top manufacturer
By Ava Grace // Oct 09, 2024

Hospitals across the U.S. are taking steps to conserve their supplies of IV fluids after Hurricane Helene struck a critical manufacturing plant belonging to the country's biggest supplier.

Baxter International, a medical technology company responsible for making IV fluids for most U.S. hospitals, said that it would temporarily close production at its North Cove, North Carolina facility because of flooding from Helene, raising concerns about a potential nationwide shortage. (Related: Scenic NC town wiped out by Hurricane Helene as state’s death toll continues to climb.)

IV fluids deliver drugs or water with electrolytes directly into a patient's bloodstream. They're also critical for surgery, when a person cannot eat or drink, to keep them hydrated. Baxter also makes specialty fluids, such as peritoneal dialysis fluid, which helps patients with kidney failure filter waste from their blood, and irrigation fluids, used during procedures to clean or flush wounds.

"These are not high-dollar, lucrative products, but they are the warhorse products in a hospital," said Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs at Premier, a group purchasing organization for hospital supplies that serves thousands of medical institutions in the United States. "You go in for anything and the first thing that they're doing is hanging an IV bag."

Mass General Brigham, a prestigious hospital system, said it is continuing to treat patients normally, but is conserving its fluid supplies. This includes switching to oral hydration for patients who are healthy enough for it, and not discarding partially used IV fluid bags when patients are moved to a different part of the hospital.

"Right now we are continuing all of our clinical care as we normally do," said Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer at Mass General Brigham. "We intend to preserve clinical care in the face of this shortage as long as we possibly can."

FDA recertification of Baxter may take time

Baxter said a levee breach contributed to the flooding, and bridges leading to the plant were also damaged. The company said it is working with health, emergency and other government agencies to assess the damage to the plant and come up with a plan to restart production as quickly as possible.

Ahead of the storm, the company evacuated workers and moved products to higher ground or secure storage where possible. The company has been allocating products to customers to try to conserve supply and ensure equitable distribution.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is working with Baxter and could expedite its review of manufacturing lines at the plant when they are cleaned and restored. The agency also said it would work with other Baxter locations, and other suppliers, to increase supplies of the solutions.

The duration of the shortages could depend on how extensively damaged the plant is. If the flooding affects the plant's ability to meet FDA standards for sterility and stability, it typically takes 90 days to receive FDA recertification.

Visit Disaster.news for similar stories.

Watch this video about the victims of Hurricane Helene.

This video is from NewsClips on Brighteon.com.

More related stories: 

Election interference in North Carolina: Hurricane Helene devastates areas of the battleground state with limited access to voting just weeks before election.

BREAKING: Hurricane Helene leaves at least 40 dead, 4.4 million people with no electricity or cell service.

Major damage in Florida after catastrophic Hurricane Helene made landfall.

Hurricane Helene leaves millions without power and dozens dead… and the post-storm situation is only getting worse.

Southern communities hit by Hurricane Helene told to expect extended power outages after Biden sends critical electrical equipment to Ukraine instead.

Sources include: 

NBCnews.com

WSJ.com

Brighteon.com



Take Action:
Support NewsTarget by linking to this article from your website.
Permalink to this article:
Copy
Embed article link:
Copy
Reprinting this article:
Non-commercial use is permitted with credit to NewsTarget.com (including a clickable link).
Please contact us for more information.
Free Email Alerts
Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.

NewsTarget.com © 2022 All Rights Reserved. All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. NewsTarget.com is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. NewsTarget.com assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published on this site. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.

This site uses cookies
News Target uses cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy.
Learn More
Close
Get 100% real, uncensored news delivered straight to your inbox
You can unsubscribe at any time. Your email privacy is completely protected.