BEAUMONT, Texas — Medical experts in Beaumont are preparing in case a children's medicine shortage seen nationwide makes its way Southeast Texas.
While area shelves are stocked with medicine such as Tylenol, health professionals believe this could change soon.
Greg Hamby is Beaumont pharmacist. He saw a demand in children's medicine outweigh supply when the 2022-23 school year started months ago.
Hamby is constantly checking to see if children’s medicine used to treat common colds and fevers are still available. Lately, they have not been.
“The ones that we use the most often are liquid Tylenol, liquid Motrin, or liquid Ibuprofen, however you want to say that brand generic ” Hamby said. “But that's been an issue and it's simply grown worse."
Hamby owns King’s Pharmacy in Beaumont. While his shelves may only be missing a few bottles of medicine, he believes that number could change and parents could become desperate.
“Anytime that a whole seller doesn't have access to order it from a manufacturer, then we have an indefinite amount of time to be able to acquire it again," Hamby said.
Hamby said when certain medicines finally do become available, they become available in small amounts. This costs pharmacies more, but at King's Pharmacy, they offer solutions.
“We can compound it,” Hamby said. “We can go get Ibuprofen. We can go get acetaminophen, and we can make it "
Dr. Msonthi Levine treats patients at Baptist Hospital in Beaumont. While he said he has not seen a medicine shortage at the hospital level, a shortage is not anything new.
“With the COVID pandemic coming off of that, there were some manufacturing shortages that did decrease availability of certain over the counter medication,” Dr. Levine said. “It's a part of the healthcare world. Doctors and healthcare professionals work with patients every day to try and mitigate those shortages."
Dr. Levine is happy to know other medical experts can help patients if medicines he prescribes aren't available.
“In the a time of crisis if they can make these medications and have a similar ethicacy and similar profile metabolically than yes it's an alternative,” Dr. Levine said.
