NMS To Routinely Quantify Expired Drugs
Drugs at the National Medical Store.
The National Medical Stores (NMS) has resolved to have a monthly routine of quantifying expired drugs and collecting them.
According to Dr Amandua Jacinto, Commissioner Clinical services at the Ministry of Health, NMS last year got rid of over 95 percent of expired drugs from public hospitals.
According to a letter dated 11th December 2012 from NMS to the Ministry of health, all expired medicines and medical supplies had been collected and incinerated.
Dr Amandua reveals that they have now developed guidelines for the destruction of expired pharmaceuticals.
The guidelines put up a process of writing medicines off; the exercise is led by the board of surveyors of respective districts and informing the MOH of the expired drugs.
Others include packaging the drugs properly so as not to be accessed by wrong elements and having a mechanism of destroying them.
However, Dr Amandua says this does not mean that after the exercise, there are no current expired drugs in these public facilities.
At the time NMS was carrying out the exercise the army incinerator in Nakasongola was the only one being used, but currently another private entity found in Iganga is also being used.
The commissioner adds that the incinerated drugs without citing the affected types include anti-biotics, anti- malarial and laboratory chemicals among other supplies.
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