BERLIN

The German government admitted on Friday the shortage of antibiotics for children and vowed to take steps to address the problem.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Health Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Gulde said the ministry has informed regional authorities about the problem.

He also said they have activated the necessary mechanisms as part of an early warning system, and local authorities will now be able to react more flexibly and purchase these antibiotics in an unbureaucratic way when needed also from abroad.

A leading doctor’s union warned earlier about the acute shortage of children’s antibiotics in Germany and called for immediate steps to address the problem.

“Children who actually need an antibiotic sometimes don’t get any,” Jakob Maske, spokesman of the pediatricians association BVKJ, told German press agency, adding that the situation was “very worrying.”

Maske said many children were under risk due to the shortage of antibiotics, while their families were left in a desperate situation, struggling to find medicine for them.