Hospitals/Pharmaceutical Shortfall

Does this mean there is no oversight body in Canada either at the federal or provincial level that looks into the issue of whether or not pharmaceutical producers conduct their operations in a scientifically secure-and-safe manner to ensure that no contaminants enter their critical drugs through their manufacturing system?

For it would seem that a critical situation is occurring, one that has impacted the feasibility of provincial hospitals to proceed as normal with scheduled surgeries due to a lack of required drugs normally utilized during operations. Quebec-based Sandoz, a generic drug maker which just happens to be the sole supplier to Canadian hospitals of 90% of all injectable drugs is experiencing slowdown problems.

Those problems, linked to the manufacturer having to slow down production as a result of initiating new production procedures and installing new equipment to ensure complete hygienic conditions prevail, have inevitably led to a critical lack of commonly used pharmaceuticals in all hospitals. Without the assured presence of those drugs, normal hospital procedures may not proceed.

The company's plant in Boucherville, Quebec was cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for "significant violations" of safe production procedures and codes. It was singled out for condemnation for "significant violations", inclusive of not having instituted quality controls for the purpose of preventing bacterial contamination.

Because of the situation which has left most hospitals desperately searching for replacement drugs to enable them to continue operating as they should be, HealthPro Canada which is the consortium that purchases drugs in bulk for the nation's hospitals' use is actively searching out alternate drug suppliers.

This does beg the question; how is it even remotely possible that this pharmaceutical firm was in full operation, in the superbly responsible and remunerative position of being solely contracted to provide all hospitals in the country with required pharmaceuticals used on a daily basis, and there was no Canadian-sourced investigation into the reliability of its production methods?

Why would it take an American medical investigatory body to discover and to condemn poor production practises potentially inimical to the health of countless people in treatment and surgery? Where is the responsible Canadian oversight?