“The company is working around the clock in close coordination with local, state and federal officials<\/strong>\u00a0to assess the extent of the damage and implement a plan to bring the plant back online as quickly as possible to help mitigate supply disruption to patients,”\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Baxter in a statement.<\/p>\n Deerfield, IL-based\u00a0Baxter alerted hospitals to expect its provision of IV fluid to plummet by 40% from typical levels<\/strong>,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Dr. Paul Biddinger, the chief preparedness and continuity officer at Boston’s Mass General Brigham hospital, who spoke at a Thursday media conference call.<\/p>\n Mass General Brigham is among hospitals that are already implementing measures to make the most of their inventory — such as\u00a0urging staff to consider using Gatorade or water<\/strong>\u00a0in situations where that can fulfill patient hydration needs in comparable fashion to an IV drip. The hospital will also refrain from trashing partially-used bags when patients are relocated to new departments.<\/p>\n \u201cPatients are still getting IV fluids when they need them,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Biddinger.\u00a0\u201cWe are continuing normal medical services but emphasizing conservation<\/strong>, and we are carefully monitoring this incident to determine how long it may last, how long we may need to conserve, and making sure we identified all areas of our enterprise where services are affected.\u201d<\/p>\n A breached levee was a factor in the flooding of\u00a0Baxter’s plant in Marion, North Carolina, which typically churns out\u00a01.5 million<\/a>\u00a0bags a day<\/strong>. Its return to production will be made more difficult by Helen’s destruction of bridges in the vicinity. The company said it’s\u00a0unable to set a timeline for the resumption of operations<\/a>\u00a0at the facility.\u00a0Baxter shares fell 2.47% on Thursday<\/a>, edging up 0.63% in after-hours trading.<\/p>\n Before the Hurricane,\u00a0Baxter commanded a\u00a060%<\/a>\u00a0share<\/strong>\u00a0of America’s IV fluid market. Closely-held B. Braun Medical, which accounted for 23%, is pushing to ramp up its own production, telling\u00a0NBC News<\/em><\/a>\u00a0it’s focusing on the “most critical products,” including large-volume bags of sodium chloride, sterile water and lactated ringers.<\/p>\n That will help, but it won’t head off a shortage.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re anticipating that there will be major constraints on the U.S. supply of IV fluids<\/strong>\u00a0as a result of the production outage at Baxter\u2019s North Cove plant,\u201d a Braun Medical spokesman told\u00a0NBC<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nor can the U.S. count on tapping European manufacturers<\/strong>\u00a0because of previously existing global shortages, said Soumi Saha, senior vice president of government affairs at Premier, a group purchasing organization for hospital supplies that serves thousands of medical institutions in the U.S. —\u00a0WSJ<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n News of the pending IV fluid shortage comes just after the Biden-Harris administration\u00a0ducked a bullet<\/a>\u00a0in the form of a short-lived longshoremen strike that closed ports from Maine to Texas.\u00a0Now, the White House — and presidential candidate Kamala Harris — face a rising tide of anger and frustration over its response to Hurricane Helene —\u00a0<\/strong>and a crisis in hospitals will only exacerbate that dynamic.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/inline-images\/helene_damage_to_bridge_baxter_north_cove_facility_in_north_carolina.jpg.jpeg?itok=LBmPlOzE\")
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