While saline supplies were low prior to Hurricane Maria’s landfall, the storm significantly worsened the shortage by disrupting operations and knocking out power at Baxter’s three manufacturing plants on the island.
The shortages have affected hospitals nationwide. To mitigate saline shortages, many hospitals have employed strategies such as administering drugs through syringes or in pill form rather than intravenously.
However, now that Baxter’s facilities are connected to the commercial power grid, the FDA is confident that the shortages will soon subside.
“Given the improvements we’ve seen over the last few weeks, I’m optimistic that supplies of IV saline and amino acids will increase over the next few weeks and the stress of the shortage will begin to abate, even if the shortages will not be fully resolved immediately,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, in a press release.
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