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.

On Wednesday, it emerged Cork's Bon Secours Hospital had cancelled eye surgeries scheduled to take place on Thursday with less than 24 hours' notice. 

However, a spokesperson for the hospital said the shortage of the anaesthetic relates to a "wider issue concerning global supply problems that is impacting hospitals all across Ireland and not just Bon Secours Hospital Cork".

A spokesperson for the HPRA told the Irish Examiner the limited supply is linked to manufacturing issues as well as a "significant increase in demand for these products and are also affecting other countries". 

The agency said it was in ongoing contact with the supplier of these medicines, Bausch and Lomb, and said it was looking to restore supplies as soon as possible. 

However, additional stock of these medicines is expected to made available in Ireland during the next two weeks. 

"The HPRA will continue to engage with the company to expedite the timeline for the delivery of this additional stock," the spokesperson added. 

"As part of the national medicines shortages framework, we are also working with the HSE with a view to assisting hospitals in managing the current situation."