Yzabelle Bostyn
Have you been affected by Nolotil? Email us: tips@theolivepress.es
THE Olive Press has launched a petition to urge Spanish healthcare providers to stop giving Nolotil to northern european patients.
Also known as metamizole, Nolotil is a popular painkiller in Spain.
However, it is known to cause agranulocytosis, or severely low white blood cell count, in northern European patients, leading to organ failure, sepsis and gangrene.
The drug has been linked to at least 40 deaths of British and Irish people in Spain.
Despite a 2018 informative note issued by the Spanish Medicine Agency advising medical professionals to not administer the drug to northern europeans, people keep dying.
READ MORE: What is Nolotil? The painkiller sold in Spain that’s been linked to dozens of British deaths
Just last December, a 42-year-old British expat and father died after taking Nolotil for a minor shoulder injury.
Yet still, readers contact us everyday saying they have been offered the drug.
“So many organisations are just distributing these things like sweeties and not taking any notice of the 2018 advice,” said Graeme Ward, whose wife Mary lost her life to Nolotil.
“When she died Nolotil wasn’t very well known but now we’ve uncovered so many cases. It’s a huge problem.”
That’s why we’ve launched a campaign urging medical professionals to comply with the 2018 advice.
If you agree that it should be followed, please sign our petition here.
Your support is essential to put pressure on and save expat lives.
Have you been affected by Nolotil? Email us: tips@theolivepress.es
