Taiwan to resume domestic supply of IV fluid in large bags in July

Taipei, July 1 (CNA) The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) assured lawmakers on Monday that Taiwan would be able to resume the domestic supply of intravenous (IV) fluid in large bags by the end of July.

Health Minister Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said at a legislative committee hearing that there is currently a stable supply of IV fluid due to imports of mostly 500 cubic centimeter (cc) bags, and domestic production of 1-liter bags is expected to resume at the end of this month.

Chiu made the remarks after Kuomintang (KMT) Legislators Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) and Wang Yu-min (王育敏) raised concerns over Taiwan's domestic IV fluid supply, which was disrupted when the country's biggest saline producer, Y F Chemical Corp., was ordered to halt production on May 10 after failing inspections earlier this year.

Prior to ceasing production, the New Taipei-based company made around 70 percent of Taiwan's total supply.

According to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), Y F Chemical's issues must be resolved in order for TFDA inspectors to conduct another inspection that would include a review of the company's software, hardware, personnel training and operations.

The company could hopefully be allowed to resume production at the end of this year and even start making IV fluid in 2-liter bags, Chiu said.

To address the domestic shortfall caused by Y F Chemical's production stoppage, the TFDA initiated an emergency scheme to import IV fluid from overseas on May 29.

However, Chen admitted that several major hospitals have been forced to postpone surgeries including hysteroscopies because the increased frequency of changing the lower-volume bags of imported IV fluid had put a strain on medical personnel during surgical procedures.

TFDA Deputy Director-General Wang Der-yuan (王德原), who was also at Monday's hearing, said there are currently six IV producers in Taiwan and they have all ramped up production to help the government ensure an adequate supply.

But because those manufacturers already have other business obligations, they would altogether be unable to supply more than around 450,000 bags of IV fluid to Taiwan in the coming month, he said.

However, some IV manufacturers were evaluating whether to raise production capacity though manpower or shift increases to supply at least 500,000 bags of IV fluid per month, Wang added.