HPRA in contact with medicines suppliers after operations cancelled in Cork hospital 

Eye surgeries cancelled at Bon Secours due to shortages of anaesthetic eye drops

Cork's Bon Secours Hospital cancelled eye surgeries scheduled to take place on Thursday with less than 24 hours' notice. Picture: Richard Mills.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) is in contact with Canadian medicine supplier Bausch and Lomb after some eye surgeries were cancelled at a Cork hospital due to anaesthetic shortages. 

According to the HPRA, three forms of anaesthetic eye drops in the Minims range is currently in short supply — oxybuprocaine hydrochloride, proxymetacaine hydrochloride and tetracaine hydrochloride eye drops.