The Food and Drug Administration has been working with saline manufacturers Baxter HealthCare, Hospira and B. Braun Medical to ease the shortage of intravenous saline solution that has been affecting the U.S. as a result of an intense flu season, according to AHA News Now
The increased demand for saline solution, particularly the 0.9 percent product, has spurred hospitals to conserve the product in any way possible, using smaller bags, switching solutions when possible and allocating remaining supplies based on need.
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The shortage is ongoing since mid-January, and since then the FDA has received notices from "dozens of hospitals," according to the associated director of the agency's drug shortages program, Valerie Jensen, who was quoted in a Washington Post report.
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