A federal health agency has invoked a wartime act to facilitate the cleanup of North Carolina’s Baxter International medical facility, the largest manufacturer of certain intravenous (IV) solutions in the United States, after it was damaged by Hurricane Helene.
Baxter International Inc. said in September that it closed its North Cove facility in Marion, North Carolina after the hurricane brought “unprecedented rain and extensive flooding.”
The North Carolina plant is the source of 60 percent of the country’s IV fluid supply. After Hurricane Helene, hospitals, which use over 2 million IV bags daily for hydration and medicine, faced a shortage.
Earlier this month, the American Hospital Association (AHA), which represents almost 5,000 member hospitals, 43,000 individual members, and other health care organizations, urged the federal government to declare a national emergency, warning that patient safety is at risk due to a shortage of IV solutions….