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Truck full of expired medicines causes flutter in Pune ZP
They have complained about this to Uday Jadhav, chief executive officer (CEO), Pune zilla parishad, and have demanded a thorough inquiry and audit of all the medicines and purchase of drugs in the last five years
Members of Pune zilla parishad (ZP) have raised an alarm after discovering a truck full of expired medicines of an unknown value.
They have complained about this to Uday Jadhav, chief executive officer (CEO), Pune zilla parishad, and have demanded a thorough inquiry and audit of all the medicines and purchase of drugs in the last five years.
Sharad Buttepatil, member of ZP and district planning committee of Pune, said, “On Thursday, we found a truck full of expired medicines which was sealed and kept hidden in the warehouse of the Zilla Parishad located in Koregaon Park. The medicines were clearly lying unused for several years. We demand a detailed inquiry and investigation in this matter.”
Dr Santosh Gaikwad, District Health Officer (DHO), Pune, visited the warehouse on Friday and sealed the truck full of expired medicines.
He said, “The complaint has been taken up. It is true that a truck has been lying in the premises of the warehouse for many years now and is full of expired medicines. However, the procurement of the medicines in the truck did not take place during my tenure. We will ask all the previous DHOs of Pune district to produce records so that all details can be known.”
Uday Jadhav, CEO of Pune Zilla Parishad, when contacted, said, “I will be visiting the warehouse on Tuesday as I am away and visiting flood-affected areas in the periphery.”
Dr ND Deshmukh, the then DHO (2014-2015), said in an interview that the drug procurement under question had happened during his tenure.
“In fact, the then supplier gave us compromised and poor quality medicines which we noticed and immediately alerted the state officials. The medicines that were distributed from the same lot of 2014-2015 to all the PHCs (primary health centres) were recalled immediately after we noticed that they were of poor quality.”
He said that the paracetamol syrup meant for paediatric cases had turned black whereas it should be pink. “The syrup had changed colour and we immediately alerted our state health director and requested the state to stop the purchase and supply of the medicines from that supplier who has now been blacklisted. The state had stopped the purchase of medicines from him. However, even after several letters and requests, the state failed to look into the disposal of the expired medicines that were put in the truck. The truck has been lying in the warehouse since then.”
Dr Deshmukh said that as per the food and drug administration (FDA) rules, the medicines should have been discarded and not kept in the warehouse. The state authorities never took any action.
