Termination of pregnancy: the abortion pill which is now available, but not found

Elisa Cloutier

Friday, December 15, 2017 18:05

UPDATE
Friday, 15 December 2017 18:22

Look at this article

Even if it was to be offered to the four corners of Québec as of Friday, the abortion pill cannot be found, as with hospitals, pharmacies and clinics for voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

The cabinet of the minister of Health, it is clear that this situation is “temporary”. “We were committed to repay this medicine this fall, and we have fulfilled our commitment,” said the Newspaper attached to the minister of Health Gaétan Barrette, without being able to say when the drug will be made available. “We are in contact with the suppliers so that the supply would resume normally, in particular with the institutions,” said Catherine W. Audet.

Out of stock

Several pharmacists contacted by The Newspaper Friday claimed that it was impossible to order the abortion pill in their suppliers, for lack of supplies.

“Like all my colleagues, and I did as I was able to order it from my wholesaler, but it quickly fell out-of-stock,” said the pharmacist Jean-Philippe Simon. “It is, of course, I’m going to try to have them, but currently I am told that this is not possible,” says for its part the pharmacist Mathilde Tremblay.

None of the three planning clinics birth of the region has not managed to get their hands on the drug, which according to our information, should not be found on the shelves of hospitals before the 10th of January.

“We are ready to prescribe, but we have to wait for the product to be available,” said the spokesman of the CHU de Québec Lindsay James, in speaking of the clinical areas of the hospital Saint-François d’assise and Centre hospitalier de l’université Laval. The pill however will not be offered in the clinic of the Hôtel-Dieu de Lévis.

“Just 24 hours”

The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) and the Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires (AQPP) say with one voice that the announcement made by the minister Gaétan Barrette on Wednesday was made “without that on the field, it is ready”.

“The doctors of clinics that perform ABORTIONS (voluntary termination of pregnancy) called here and asked us what they could provide to the patients,” lamented the spokesperson of the FMOQ, Jean-Pierre Dion.

“This is good news, but I understand that for the women who need it, there may be a disappointment, and it is legitimate,” he continued. “None of our members had received the guidelines prior to Tuesday, the day before the minister’s announcement. Therefore, pharmacists were given just 24 hours to store and have all made a request to their wholesaler at the same time, who fell out of stock”, explains Jean Bourcier, director general of the AQPP.