Balaka District Hospital burns expired drugs worth K118 million
Balaka District Hospital on Monday burnt expired drugs worth K118 million which it received from donors and purchased from the Central Medical Stores Trust.
The ceremony which took place at Sosola Dumping Site was witnessed by officials from the district hospital, district council, treasury, police and Department of Environmental Affairs among others.
In an interview the district hospital’s Publicists, Mercy Nyirenda, said it was ideal to burn the drugs because they expired and were deemed poisonous for human consumption.
“Some of the drugs that we are burning today date back to 2012. Initially, it is the Treasury Department that gives the mandate to destroy expired drugs and the delay was because Treasury took long to respond hence the drugs kept on accumulating,” said Nyirenda.
She said apart from the drugs, the burnt consignment also included HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) Kits.
According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO), most of the burnt drugs were donations from different development partners which sometimes come in large quantities but only had a few months to expire.
“We are not saying donations are bad, but most of the drugs that we receive are in large quantities and also they come when they are few months from their expiring dates. This sees us failing to use them all and this is the end result, she said.
Among the burnt drugs were; aspirin, albendazole, Lumefantrine Artmether (LA) and Jentamancine.
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