E13m drugs expired in 12 months
MBABANE – While some health facilities reportedly run out of storage space, the Ministry of Health has recorded stock of expired drugs worth E13 million in 12 months.
7he expired medical drugs and supplies include those that have constantly been reported to be out of stocN, such as painNillers for severe pain, operation gels, aesthetics, ,&8 supplies and chronic illness medication, among others. 7his is as a result of delivery delays. 6ome of the medical drugs and supplies were delivered with a shelf life of less than months. %y the time these drugs and supplies were dispatched to the respective public facilities, they had a shelf life of less than three months.
,t was reported that in , the ministry had an excessive amount of expired stocN amounting to (
. . 6ome of the expired stocN was stored at the &entral 0edical 6tores &06 , taNing up space for new stocN, while others piled up at public health facilities.
7his occurred against the bacNdrop of the medical drugs shortage crisis in the country. 7he 0inistry of Health disposes of expired drugs worth at least ( million per year. 7his might be due to occurrences such as having a few patients who need those drugs or contamination during deliveries and storage. However, the figure rapidly increased in the previous reporting financial year.
$ccording to healthcare worNers in several public health facilities, the delivery of drugs and supplies that were about to expire or had expired, affects the delivery of some services.
2ne healthcare worNer, who reTuested to comment on condition of anonymity, disclosed that some clinics ran out of self-testing H,9 Nits. $s a result, for almost a month, people who wanted to conduct H,9 tests in some of clinics were turned bacN. 7he healthcare worNer said they sometimes tooN the test Nits from some of the organisations that are the (swatini *overnment¶s response partners to H,9 $,'6.
Donated
7he healthcare worNer also stated that there were a lot of donated medical supplies, which were delivered with short shelf life. ³6ome were delivered in mid--anuary and expired at the end of )ebruary or 0arch,´ the healthcare worNer said. ³2ur storage is filled with expired medical supplies than the usable ones,´ she said.
$nother healthcare worNer also told this publication that some expired medical drugs were collecting dust in several health facilities. He said some of the drugs were delivered with a shelf life of less than three months.
7he healthcare worNer, who is based in the /ubombo 5egion, disclosed that a couple of months bacN, they almost dispersed medication that had passed its shelf life.
:hen the employees were asNed what had caused the high stocN of expired medical drugs and supplies, they blamed it on delivery delays. 7he employees said what irNed them the most was that the 0inistry of Health was no longer collecting expired drugs and medical supplies. )or that reason, their storage facilities were running out of space and the drugs were liNely to be mixed with dispersed medication, thus endangering the lives of patients.
³7hey were collecting the expired medication before, but over the years, it changed and more and more medication with a short shelf life was delivered,´ said the healthcare worNer.
7he auditor general¶s $* )inancial $udit 5eport on the &onsolidated *overnment $ccounts of the .ingdom of (swatini, for the financial year ended 0arch , , showed that over ( million worth of medical drugs were delivered, with a shelf life of less than months. ³7he ministry received various pharmaceuticals and other critical items necessary for patient care, amounting to (
. , with a shelf life of less than months, which was not compliant with set standards.´
7he $* stated that such was in contravention of the specifications and standards of the invitation to tender for the supply and delivery of all pharmaceutical, vaccines, which states that pharmaceuticals contraceptive products must, upon arrival at &06 in 0atsapha, have a shelf life of not less than three-thirds of the specified life remaining.
Period
)or those items whose remaining shelf life is shorter than two years, they must have a remaining period of at least three Tuarters of their original shelf life.
7he $* also noted that the acceptance of donated medical drugs with a one month shelf life appeared to be more of a disposal method by the donor, to avoid the costly disposal of the drugs on their part. 7he ministry also accepted donated medical drugs with a shelf life ranging from as little as less than one month to months.
7he 0inister of Health, 0dudu]i 0atsebula, recently told 3arliament that the ministry was faced with persistent delays in the delivery of much-needed medicines and medical supplies, including anti-cancer drugs and other medicines for non-communicable diseases 1&'s .