Police in Luapula province have uncovered a scam in which some unscrupulous persons are excavating medical supplies and accessories buried by the Provincial Health Office at Mansa’s Mantumbusa Dumping Site.
The Police command in the province has since cautioned the public from sourcing and seeking medical treatment from unrecognized health centres and drug outlets following the discovery.
Luapula Province Police Commanding Officer, Auxensio Mbewe, said unknown people were excavating expired medicines and gadgets that had been disposed off at the site by the provincial health office.
Mr. Mbewe said Police were yet to determine the extent of pilferage to the disposal drums containing expired drugs, which were buried sometime last month.
He said the development was a threat to the good health of unsuspecting members of the public seeking medical attention from Quack professionals and unrecognized drug stores.
Mr. Mbewe said Police was still investigating the matter to ensure culprits are brought to book.
He said Police had since mounted patrols around the dumping site while a request has been made to the Provincial Health Office to find an alternative channel of disposing off drugs.
Most Mansa residents talked to condemned the health authorities over the method of disposing off expired drugs and other disused medical supplies.
When contacted Mansa Town Clerk, Bwanga Kapumpa, said though the ‘Dumping site’ was a legal disposal place, it was the preserve of the provincial health officer to use burying as a channel of disposing off the drugs.
A check by ZANIS at the site revealed a variety of sealed medical drugs such as painkillers, antibiotics, ARVs, syringes and other medical gadgets scattered all over he dumping site.
ENDS/DN/ZANIS/SJK
That people need to be found and arrested…they are a danger to society
If mansa dumping site can be patroed why not the chingwele dumping site people are all the time found their picking things that are expaired
That stuff is supposed to be incinerated and not merely burried.
May be there are’t any incinarators at all at health institutions in Mansa,oh dear!
Ummh ,but iyi yeve yiliko bad zoona..
it’s not just a matter of burrying that matters but the way & where you burry!
This is a sad state of affairs. Man to man is so unjust, you don’t know whom to trust.
Yaba! I just got some Acetamenophine from a drug store.Why not burning them.And how come all those drugs expired when there have been a perpetual drug shortage at UTH.
Ignorance, selfishiness and poverty make people behave in such dangerous manner. The least sensible people are those who burry the drugs, they are supposed to incinerate them.
Sad. What happened to incinaration? Is it an environmental issue as well?
I cant believe that the Provincial Health Office in Mansa can have medications allowed to expire without taking radical action before the expiry dates. . If its because the supply exceeded demand why not ask other provinces who might be running short of those drugs and equipments? it annoys me to hear that even antibiotics and ARVS were among the medications expired. This is poor strategic management .(This can put off all International donors)
Besides that why not incinerate them pronto same way Ganja weed is disposed of??
This poverty! But surely, even if the hospital has no incinerators, you mean you cant pour ptrol on the drugs and burn them? If people can excavate dead bodies, what more drugs? The authorities have been careless here. Njala knows no bounderies, ka.
AM well informed that there were also drugs that were supposed to expire in 2010 and 2011.Pali ilyashi apa.The law must vist whoever is involved.Some places dont have drugs how come Luapula is burning drugs?Anso bamambala bali muli doller.This an in door case.Rubish