Thursday, March 28, 2024

Health Ministry should reject Drug donations with shelf life less than one year

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Mumbwa MP Dr Brian Chituwo with chipata General Hospital acting medical superintendent Dr Mbinga Mbinga during the tour of the parliamentary committee on health at the institution
Mumbwa MP Dr Brian Chituwo with chipata General Hospital acting medical superintendent Dr Mbinga Mbinga during the tour of the parliamentary committee on health at the institution

THE Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has advised the Ministry of Health (MoH) to ensure that drugs with a short shelf life are not imported into the country.

Committee chairperson Brian Chituwo also said the MoH must refuse to accept donated medicines whose shelf life is less than one year.

He said this is because the country loses a lot of money in buying and disposing of drugs which are bought at a high cost.

Dr Chituwo was speaking when Ministry of Health permanent secretary Peter Mwaba appeared before the committee to respond to queries cited in the Auditor-General’s report for the financial year ended December 2014, which shows that drugs worth K4,762,612 from 18 districts had expired during the period from June 2007 to September 2015.

The AG’s report also indicates that expired drugs worth K3,994,747.75 in seven districts have been disposed of.

But Chama North MP January Zimba (PF) said the ministry should explain why medicines worth so much money should go to waste when a lot of people need them.

And Dr Mwaba said measures have been put in place to ensure that no more medicines go to waste or get expired while in the hospitals.

“When WHO tells us to stop using certain medicines, then that drug ends up going bad because no one is using it,” he said.

6 COMMENTS

  1. There is no free lunch. Even donations cost. Why should we accept donations that will cost us a sum to get rid of? That means we are doing the bidding of the donors for them? They know their drugs are expiring and they will have to foot that bill of disposing. I would rather we buy or own medicines according to our budgeted provisions and disposal plans accordingly. Cheap IS expensive after all.

  2. While Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Chishimba Kambwili is going round the country cheating citizens on how much infrastructure the government has built, his own company Mwamona Engineering and Technical Services Limited is plundering government resources by receiving money for contracts and not delivering the services.
    According to information obtained from the Office of the Attorney General, Mwamona was awarded a contract to construct a market in Mwense district, recieved upfront payment and never constructed the market.
    Mwamona was registered in 2001 by Kambwili using his son and Wife as proxies.
    According to investigations by the Zambian Watchdog, Kambwili could not use his name by this time because he was a Copper thief (JERABO) who was scared of the then MMD…

  3. Let Doctors by profession run the ministry of health, rather that the party vuvuzelas who might have acquired honorary doctorates, or doctorate holders in other fields strange to the health practitioners’ body.. Qualified personnel must go and work in all that has to do with their major!! COMPETENCE is what Zed needs so that to be able to give proper guide- lines on whether to accept or reject anything from abroad that is being dumped in our nation for experimental purposes

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