Firm donates 10 000 ice packs to paramedics

SOUTH AFRICA’S fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the private sector, Cipla Medpro, working through its waste management partner, Interwaste, has donated 10 000 reusable ice packs to sporting fraternities and paramedic association in Cape Town.

When importing from within, the company’s global network of manufacturing sites, Cipla takes the necessary measure to ensure the medication is protected.

However, certain medication needs to be kept and stored at a stable chilled temperature to maintain the molecular structure, to ensure the product is safe and effective for the treatment it is intended for.

Therefore, while importing and transporting such medication, in addition to the temperature-controlled containers, Cipla also uses ice packs to ensure compliance with the respective prescribed storage temperature of the various medication.

Cipla facilities, security and systems senior manager Marinus du Plessis said: “After we received a bulk delivery of medication, we had a surplus of ice packs, which were still in mint condition.

“As these are reusable products, we didn’t want to merely dispose of them, but we didn’t have further use for them.

“We asked Interwaste for a strategic solution that would enable the best re-purposing… of these products.”

Interwaste coastal division technical officer Tyron Hartle said: “We tried to redistribute as many of the ice packs as possible, with the objective of diverting re-usable waste from simply ending up in a landfill.

“We are also liaising with other interested parties to distribute the balance of the ice packs.”

To date, approximately ten pallets of reusable ice packs have been donated to the association of paramedic services for the Cape Town region, and the sporting fraternities at the UWC, UCT and Stellenbosch University.

SA Paramedics Services Cape Town operations manager Abdul Anderson said the organisation was incredibly thankful to Cipla and Interwaste.

“We will approach schools, community sport clubs and organisations in rural and underprivileged areas that could benefit from receiving such ice packs.”

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