Health Minister: Consumption of antibiotics grew by 47 percent year-on-year

Consumption of antibiotics has grown by 47 percent year-on-year and the rise in usage has had an effect on the availability of this medication over the past several weeks, Health Minister Vlastimil Válek said on Friday. However, he said that consumption rates are now declining, with Deputy Minister Jakub Dvořáček adding that the situation should stabilise around the end of February. The rise in year-on-year consumption was explained by the low infection rates in early 2022, when Covid measures were still in place.

Opposition parties have called on the minister to take personal responsibility for the shortage. He defended himself on Friday by saying that the issue is also present in other countries and cannot be solved on the national level. He named the limitation of packaging production in China and the war in Ukraine where much of the medication was produced as reasons.

The Health Ministry says it plans to find a long-term solution to the issue by a change in legislation which should become active this year.