At my job they tell us expired drugs belong to the sewer, i mean we flush
them down the toilet and my message to Dr Jallow is to stop giving her
patients expired drugs.
Alasana Bah
>From: astrid christensen-tasong <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Article from the Observer: Expired Drugs
>Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 06:57:14 PST
>
>This is unbelievable...Am I missing something or is this pharmacist out of
>her mind telling people expired drugs are ok to use and will continue
>dispensing THE EXPIRED DRUGS. I'm sure they taught her in school the
>purpose of the expiration date?
>
>
>From the Daily Observer 11/9/99
>
>Clinic gives patients expired drugs
>Chief pharmacist says drugs safe
>
>The Serrekunda Health Centre and other clinics across the country have been
>dispensing expired drugs to patients suffering from diarrhoea since January
>4, 1999, investigations by Daily Observer revealed yesterday.
>
>The drug, oral rehydration salts, were manufactured on January 4, 1996 and
>declared expired on January 4, 1999. The salts were manufactured for the
>World Health Organisation (WHO). One patient who was given the expired
>drug
>by nurses at Serrekunda clinic was Jali Madi
>Kanuteh of Latrikunda Yiranganya. "After drinking the drug, I realised that
>it was expired. I showed it to other people who were at my compound
>playing
>checkers," he said.
>
>Mr Kanuteh argued that since the labelled expiry date for the drug had
>expired, health workers should not dispense them to patients. A Ghanaian
>teacher expressed concern over the issue. "If you don't publish it, it
>could cause more harm than good," he told our reporter. This reporter
>visited the Serrekunda clinic last weekend and saw nurses dispensing large
>quantities of the expired drug to patients.
>
>Dr Mariama Tala Jallow, chief pharmacist at the Central Medical Store,
>yesterday confirmed to the Daily Observer that the oral rehydration salts
>were indeed expired but pointed out, "It is still safe to use. We will not
>dispense drugs to any patient if it is not safe to use because our main
>responsibility is to treat patients and not to give them more problems. And
>for diarrhoea, the ordinary ORS doesn't have any side effects. Even if it
>has expired, the drug is safe to use."
>
>Dr Jallow further point out that "we only dispense expired drugs from our
>health facility if our new stock hasn't arrived yet. Like in this case, the
>ORS which we have ordered hasn't arrived. We have been receiving a lot of
>drugs but we are still waiting for the ORS. So, in
>the meantime, we have assessed this ORS and we know that it is still safe
>to
>use and we should still continue using them.".
>
>
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