A group of top London hospitals at the forefront of the battle against Coronavirus have warned that medical establishments are about ‘to run out of essential drugs’ to look after intensive care patients.
King’s Health Partners, an academic health science centre made up of three NHS foundation trusts, is one of nine European medical centres that sounded the alarm on Tuesday.
To manage the most severe cases of Covid-19, resuscitators have to immerse the patients in an artificial coma, and intubate them.
They use powerful drugs to this, such as Curare and Propofol, and these are the ones that are rapidly disappearing.
Follow the latest coronavirus updates in our live blog
In a letter to their respective governments leaked to Le Monde newspaper in France, doctors called for emergency measures to deal with the shortages.
"Hospitals will soon run out of essential drugs to treat Covid-19 patients hospitalised in intensive care units," it reads.
"Without European collaboration to ensure a continuous supply of medicines, they may no longer be able to provide adequate intensive care within one to two weeks."
The signatories are all part of the European Alliance of University Hospitals, and include King’s, San Raffaele in Milan, Vall d´Hebron in Barcelona, and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin hospital in Berlin.
King's is constituted of King’s, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trusts, and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Collectively they treat 4.8million patients a year and employ 40,000 staff.
The letter continues: "At this rate of consumption, the stocks of the hospitals most affected will be empty in a few days, and in two weeks they will be empty for those who have larger stocks.
"This has already led to some hospitals buying drugs or dosages different from what they are used to.
"It is extremely worrying to see nurses and medical students overworked and often less experienced using products and dosages with which they are not familiar."
A French government spokesman confirmed that it had received the letter from the European Alliance of University Hospitals on Tuesday.
