Expired drugs still stored at West Dem Hospital bond

Over $5M in expired drugs are still being stored at the West Demerara Hospital Bond and attempts to have them removed and destroyed by the regional administration are futile.

Regional Executive Officer (REO) Denis Jaikarran and the Regional Health Officer, Johnathan Dudnauth were extensively grilled on this and other issues when they appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.

The 2016 Auditor General Report had flagged this issue and noted that 213 items of expired drugs with an approximate value of $5.416M were still kept at the Regional Hospital and seven health centres within Region Three.

When questioned by PAC members, Dudnauth said to date, the region has been unable to get rid of the expired pharmaceuticals.

“Concerning the expired drugs in 2016, we would have written to Food and Drugs and we would have given them the list of expired drugs, to date we would not have received a response from Food and Drugs,” he stated.

He assured the PAC that there is no way that expired drugs are being given to patients as it is stored separately.

“In the regional bond, there is a part that we allocate where expired drugs would have been stored,” Dudnauth stated.

Despite this backlog of expired drugs which dates back to before 2016, Dudnauth believes that there is some level of improvement in the system.

“If we would have compared the drugs expired in 2017 compared to 2016 and previous years, it has been less,” he explained.

According to Dudnauth, when drugs are expired, it is entered into the Expired Drugs Ledger. These items are then stored until they are verified and destroyed by the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department.