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Health ministry ready for K24bn expired drugs queries - Chituwo

Health ministry ready for K24bn expired drugs queries - Chituwo
By Noel Sichalwe
Thursday April 26, 2007 [04:01]

HEALTH minister Dr Brian Chituwo yesterday said his ministry is ready to clarify queries by Auditor General Anna Chifungula on the K24 billion worth of expired drugs. During a tour of Medical Stores Limited (MSL) in Lusaka, Dr Chituwo said the figure of K24 billion was presumably taken from the Ministry of Finance report of the board of survey on the inspection, verification and disposal of expired stock of drug and medical supplies for a period of October to November 2005.

Dr Chituwo said given the problem of accumulated expired and damaged drugs, his permanent secretary Dr Simon Miti requested the permanent secretary at Ministry of Finance to constitute a board of survey to inspect, determine value of expired drugs and recommend the best means of disposing of the expired stock at MSL.

He said the Ministry of Finance, as a government institution responsible for public assets and executing public and finance Act, constituted a board of survey comprising of competent people in November 2005 to quantify the expired drugs before the Auditor General made inquiries.

Dr Chituwo said the need to verify the cost of expired drugs and to come up with disposal options arose in 2004 when the government engaged a new management contractor at MSL who needed space for its logistical operations.

He said the board of survey was also aware that Central Board of Health was in the process of being dissolved and in accordance with the public and finance Act, the assets and liabilities to be passed on to government had to be determined.

“The drugs that largely contributed to the K24 billion expired drugs are those that expired between 1997 and 2004 and were supplied between 1994 and 2000 at an estimated cost of K17 billion and constituted unplanned donations from donors which had short shelf life and those that failed quality control tests for various reasons such as damages and breakages,” Dr Chituwo said. “The balance of approximately K7 billion from the K24 billion is due to drugs that were donated directly to various hospitals and health centres by service clubs, churches and NGOs. These drugs were mopped upon expiry and stored at Medical Stores Limited for safety pending disposal and destruction.”

Dr Chituwo said his ministry had in the past four years developed a guideline on donation of drugs, as donations were major contributors to the K24 billion expired drugs.
He said the emphasis in the guideline was on donated drugs having a longer shelf life upon receipt at MSL and to be donated in consultation with Ministry of Health.

Dr Chituwo said to minimize wastage of drugs, his ministry has also embarked on the improvement of drug procurement and management systems and capacity building of health staff.

“It is unfortunate that an impression has been created that these drugs have not been accounted for and were allowed to expire,” Dr Chituwo said. “On the contrary and as already alluded to, the board of survey that was constituted by Ministry of Finance did in fact verify and qualified the stock of expired drugs in 2005 as a proactive action by government.”

Dr. Chituwo said in order to safeguard public health, disposal of expired drugs followed the procedure of the board of survey, notification of intended disposal with Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority and that the Environmental Council of Zambia also has to witness the disposal.

He said the issue of the expired drugs would be presented to the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) where the Auditor General would verify some information that his ministry has prepared in response to the audit queries.

Dr Chituwo brushed aside comments by Auditor General Chifungula that she would stop auditing MoH transactions if the officials made it difficult for her office to conduct audits.

He was also happy with the operations of Crown Agents Services which is managing MSL. He said the ARV programme was focused with the stock of about US $60 million.

He wondered how his officials in the distribution process were causing artificial shortages of ARVs in areas like Western Province when they had enough stock.

“What people want to see is service delivery,” he said.
Crown Agents Services country director Misheck Kaoma said they had signed a contract with the government worth US $4.5 million for the provision of medical drugs and equipment for Eastern Western and North Western provinces. He said they were currently renovating the building.

Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, CORRUPTION, HEALTHCARE, SIMON MITI

posted by MrK @ 4:00 AM