M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Jan 28: Following a whip from the Deputy Director General of the Central TB division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to donate such anti TB drugs which have a short shelf life, the government hospital in Daltonganj has begun to dig its shelves for the TB drugs.
A handwritten note sent by the district TB officer Palamu Dr Vijay Kumar Singh mentions that 422 vials of the kanamycin injection are going to expire in February 2022. It means that this TB drug is left with less than three-four days before its expiry which is February 2022.
Similarly, 5,000 units of pyridoxine will be expiring in May 2022.
9,760 ethambutol 800 mg will expire in July 2022. In August 2022, 5,740 linezolid 600 mg will also expire. Clofazimine 100 mg counting now 3,330 is to expire this November 2022.
Sources said there is a conflict of opinion with regard to the month in which a medicine is set to expire.
Kanamycin injection is going to expire in February 2022. By this account, this injection should be set aside from use on the first day of February but in general, it has been seen that such medicines are used till the end of the month in which the medicine’s expiry date is mentioned.
According to the Civil Surgeon of Palamu Dr Anil Kumar, the drug should be packed off from human consumption from the first day of the month in which it is shown to expire.
The Central TB division of MoHFW has alerted all the states and union territories’ TB officers to explore the possibility of the utilisation of the anti TB drugs which are left with a short shelf life.
The MoHFW has asked for the donation of such anti TB drugs to all the hospitals and medical centers before them being declared as discarded.
CS Palamu said there is a standard protocol of declaring any drug not for use. Such a drug which outlives its efficacy is to be segregated from the other lots of the medicines and then in red fabric it is to be wrapped up with bold writing ‘not for use.’
Expired drug burning is done under strict order and arrangement and with utmost supervision.
The much sought after medicine in the Covid pandemic, Remdesivir, is also under the radar of health administration here.
CS Palamu would personally visit the stock of the hospital to know the latest status of the drug.
