LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas clinic has taken to social media to ask for help to get IV bags and saline supplies for its patients, all amid a nationwide shortage caused by Hurricane Helene damage.
Federal authorities are working with company Baxter, who manufactures 60% of the nation’s supply, to get limited quantities to facilities across the U.S. and to patients that need IV fluids the most.
Private practices that require saline solution for their patients are hurting from the shortage, according to the Nevada State Medical Association. Some patients in need may have to be sent from a practice to a hospital to get an IV and saline solution, according to the president of the NSMA.
“We are now calling around to places that tend to use IV fluids in abundance and seeing if they can spare us a box…We had a lot of them promise us, and then realize the shortage, and then say, ‘no, we can’t give it to you,‘” said Dr. Zia Khan, the interventional cardiologist who runs Desert Cardiovascular Consultants.
The outpatient clinic treats patients with conditions like congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. Patients need saline bags before and during surgery, and staff use IV bags or solution to administer medicine and run equipment.
“We’re having to hunt down what we can. We are basically pleading at this point,” Dr. Khan said. FOX5 reached out to Dr. Khan’s clinic after his staff posted on social media for help.
Dr. Khan did obtain some supplies from a rural hospital four hours away. He occasionally travels to a rural hospital to treat patients.
“We haven’t had to cancel any urgent surgeries just yet. There are some vein procedures called ablations…we actually stopped doing them,” Dr. Khan said. The elective procedures are being pushed into 2025 — but patients may have to pay costs out of pocket; many patients often schedule a procedure at the end of the year, knowing they have met their insurance deductible.
“There’s an emotional toll to that too,” Dr. Khan said, noting the challenges for his patients.
Hospitals have asked doctors to consider delaying some elective surgeries until supplies catch up, NSMA’s president tells FOX5.
Though hospitals across Nevada have supplies, facilities have provided guidance for doctors and staff to conserve bags and saline solution, according to NSMA: strategies include stopping an IV if a patient can consume liquids or swallow medicine, making sure the entire IV bag is used by a patient, or conserving a patient’s bag for later use.
Doctors and nurses in hospitals may also make decisions surrounding how many IV bags a patient could need, according to NSMA’s president.
Supplies are expected to stabilize in January.
If a facility has saline solution to aid Desert Cardiovascular Consultants, you can contact (702) 305-6227 or [email protected]
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