Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“After being contacted by a constituent who was concerned about the availability of Utrogestan 100mg capsules in North Antrim and East Londonderry I wrote to the Health Minister asking why there was an issue in sourcing this product from Great Britain.
“Minister Swann has advised that there is an issue throughout the UK in meeting demand for the product but that the issue is particularly bad in Northern Ireland “as a result of the additional pressures that some pharmaceutical companies have experienced with the need to serialise all product packs before supply to Northern Ireland. This is because under the Northern Ireland Protocol medicines used in Northern Ireland must comply with the EU aquis for medicines, specifically the Falsified Medicines Directive, unlike GB”.
“Here, once again, we have an every day example of the impact of the pernicious Protocol on the day to day lives of ordinary people in Northern Ireland.
“The Protocol is not only cyanide to the Union but quite literally bad for your health. It has to go in all its parts and, quite frankly, those who campaigned for the Protocol and who implement it day and daily need to examine the real life impact of their decisions.”