Romanian medicine producer Antibiotice Iași will start producing iodide pills, health minister Alexandru Rafila announced, News.ro reported.

He was answering a question about the readiness for a potential nuclear event.

Rafila explained the manufacturer had the substance needed to produce the medicines. 

At the same time, the minister stressed that the medicine was not to be taken preventively.

“I don’t think there will be any problems. I want to make one thing clear: potassium iodide is not a panacea; it is not taken preventively. It is administered strictly on advice to a certain category of people,” Rafila said.

An evaluation by the Public Health Institute INSP and the Health Ministry’s Endocrinology Commission showed a maximum of 30 million pills would be needed, the minister said.

The tablets would be then distributed to public health departments to reach city halls in the country, he explained.

In a March 6 interview with television station Digi 24, prime minister Nicolae Ciucă spoke of an insufficient stock of iodine pills and said pharmaceutical producers were contacted to fill up the stocks.

The recent developments in Ukraine have prompted many to rush to buy iodine pills, but local pharmacies did not have stocks of potassium iodide pills, Ziarul Financiar reported last week. 

Antibiotice Iași is controlled by the Romanian state through the Ministry of Health.

(Photo: Serhii Bobyk/ Dreamstime)

simona@romania-insider.com