Canada's physicians are being asked to discourage patients from hoarding or stockpiling drugs because of fears related to potential Y2K problems. "Any hoarding or stockpiling could cause a greater threat to the availability of medicines than computer failure," the Pharmacy Supply Chain Task Force says. It was created earlier this year to deal with hoarding and other issues related to the Y2K bug.
"Patients should know that if everyone gets an extra supply of drugs, then it might start a shortage," says Noelle-Dominique Willems of the Canadian Pharmacists Association. She suggests that if patients are worried, they should seek reassurance from their pharmacists or physicians.
Willems says pharmacists usually have a "blip" of extra prescriptions to fill about Dec. 15 as people stock up to avoid having to make a holiday visit to a pharmacy, and drugstores want to avoid a bigger-than-normal rush this year. She says shortages occur regularly within the drug-supply chain, but they are usually solved quickly.
Willems says the only problems identified by the end of October involved some hospitals that appeared to have begun stockpiling drugs. She says they are being warned by drug companies that normal return policies will not be followed if hospitals try to return the drugs in the new year.