While some Malawians are struggling to access essential drugs in the country’s public hospitals, the Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) is expected to destroy expired drugs and medical supplies worth about K1 billion.
The drugs and medical supplies, according to CMST, have been lying idle in the trust’s warehouses in Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu over the past two years.
CMST chief executive officer Chikaiko Chadzunda in an interview on Tuesday said the
medical supplies include tablets, capsules and injections, adding the drugs will be disposed of when the new board for the institution is appointed.
He said: “We have already done the approval processes. Audits were done on our side and other stakeholders were also involved. During the disposal process, we will involve the police, the Ministry of Health and Lilongwe City Council so as to ensure that the process is transparent. We should expect these drugs to be destroyed in January next year after all processes are completed.”
Despite the expiry of these drugs, Malawi is said to be headed in the right direction in reducing the rate of expiries.
Chadzunda said slightly about one percent of procured drugs expire now, way below the recommended two percent globally.
“What we have done is that we have put in a strategy that we call product mix where we analyse the product and group them into four groups of those which are fast moving, moderate moving and slow moving and slam non-moving. [When purchasing], we prioritise those that are fast moving,” he said.
Minister of Health and Sanitation Madalitso Baloyi said CMST should ensure that expiry of drugs in warehouses is history.
