– NAFDAC should liaise with FMC, to use the hospital’s incinerator in destroying expired drugs, thereby reducing the cost for other vendors – PCN
By Amina Mohammed
National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration And Control, NAFDAC and Federal Medical Centre, FMC Yola, Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria have destroyed expired drugs and consumables from the hospital pharmacy store, worth twelve million, sixty five thousand and fifty five naira.
The destruction was carried out under the supervision of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA and Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN, with the support of the state Ministries of Health and Environment.
The expired drugs retrieved from the Centre’s pharmacy store included assorted medicines, injectables and other consumables, were destroyed using the Centre’s incinerator.
Speaking during the exercise, the Head of Clinical Services and Chairman of the Expired Drugs and Consumables Committee of the FMC, Dr. Ahmed Baba Usman said, some of the drugs were received as donations during the Covid 19 pandemic with short expiry dates and could not be exhausted.
Usman explained that the consumptions of these drugs would have been more but for the lockdown necessitated by Covid 19 pandemic, hence the hospital services were limited; bringing down the number of patients to the Centre.
Commending the hospital’s facility, the representative of Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Pharm Giwa A Emmanuel said he was initially worried that expired drugs would be destroyed in the Centre but having seen the incinerator, he was highly impressed.
Emmanuel also expressed concern over the recent cost implication, compelling drug vendors to pay for the destruction of expired drugs without considering the lost incurred, which he described as “double jeopardy”.
According to the Pharmacist, asking people to pay for the destructions of their expired drugs would not augur well as it could end up in the wrong hands.
PCN, the pharmacist said, has waded in and has taken it up with NAFDAC to review the charges initiated for their services.
He called on NAFDAC in the interim, to liaise with FMC Yola to see how she could put to use the hospital’s facility; the incinerator to reduce the cost of destroying expired drugs for other vendors within the state.
Commenting, NAFDAC representative, Joshua Bitrus, commended the effort of FMC in acquiring the cost effective incinerator.