Health minister asks people not to hoard drugs

Health Minister Vlastimil Válek has assured Czechs that the drug shortage problem is being addressed and urged the general public not to hoard drugs because they are only making the problem worse.  At a press briefing in Prague on Friday, the health minister said that special deliveries of antibiotics would arrive weekly, in the course of January and February, and the situation on the market should stabilize by March. The minister added that the shortage of flu medicine for children had already been resolved. He said negotiations were also underway on joint purchases of medicine in the EU.