PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Hospitals all over Pennsylvania, including in the Pittsburgh area, are taking steps to make sure their patients don’t feel the impacts of the nationwide IV shortage.
Hospitals use IV fluids to keep patients hydrated and deliver medicines, but now they are stretching their supplies after Mother Nature halted production.
“It’s certainly something that’s affecting hospitals across Pennsylvania and, quite frankly, across the United States,” said Christopher Chamberlain, vice president of emergency management of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.
Baxter International, which supplies 60 percent of the country’s IV fluids and dialysis solutions closed its facility in North Carolina after it was damaged by Hurricane Helene a couple of weeks ago.
Baxter announced this week that it’s resuming partial shipments of its products.
B. Braun, the second-largest IV manufacturer, ramped up production at its plant in Daytona Beach, Florida, to help with the supply disruption, but it had to shut down ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall on Wednesday. The company said it expects to resume manufacturing and shipping on Friday.