The director of pharmacy at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance says a chemotherapy drug shortage in Canada won't affect cancer patients here.
Nancy Kay tells BlackburnNews.com the shortage is expected to continue for a while, but feels confident the situation can be well managed with a good balance between supply and demand.
Kay says Health Canada, Cancer Care Ontario, and regional cancer programs, along with hospitals are working to ensure access to chemotherapy drugs.
"Sadly, in the world of hospital pharmacy, drug shortages have become much more commonplace than we'd like it to be," she says.
Kay says there's a significant national shortage of chemotherapy drugs and only three Canadian suppliers, but "cancer patients across Chatham-Kent should not be concerned."
Kay says patients should feel confident that the chemotherapy drug will be available to them at CKHA.
"We did know that there were some problems with this medication over the last few months, but coming up this short was very much a surprise," says Kay.
Kay says there are contingency plans in place in the event of a shortage.