Facilities across the West Demerara/Essequibo Islands are being upgraded for the storage of life-saving drugs, Regional Health Officer Dr Erica Forte told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.
Responding to queries from the Ministry of Health’s Director General and PAC Member Dr Vishwa Mahadeo, Forte said that within the last year they have been upgrading health care facilities to prevent the spoilage and expiration of drugs.
She explained that the region is currently in the procurement process for air-conditioning units, which will be installed at the health facilities.
According to Forte, since the upgrades of the health facilities commenced, they have been making periodic checks to ensure drugs are being kept at their correct temperature.
Mahadeo during the consideration of the 2017 and 2018 Auditor General’s Reports, questioned the former Regional Executive Officer Dennis Jaikarran on the reluctance to honour a recommendation by the PAC.
The Auditor General’s report in 2017 had recommended that the Regional Administration undertake a survey to determine the realistic needs for pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies at these institutions and ensure the proper storage of drugs and medical supplies in order to reduce losses through expiration or improper storage. However when they re-visited in 2018, the situation still existed.
Jaikarran in his response told the PAC that it was not a case where they were not storing any drugs at the health centres but rather critical drugs that required better storage facilities were being kept at the West Demerara Regional Hospital and retrieved when required.
“With a cordial relationship at the West Demerara Hospital, the drugs were stored there and depending on the day of the clinic, the health centre will collect the drug that they need. It is not a case where nothing was not being done to store the drugs,” Jaikarran said.
But when pressed further as to why an electrical point and a fan were not repaired to enhance the storage facility temperatures, Jaikarran could not provide an answer.
This led Mahadeo to posit that to leave the health centre in such a condition was not acceptable since an emergency could have arisen at any time.
However, with the upgrades taking place at health facilities across the region, Forte said they have installed refrigerators at the health centres and are no longer continuing with the arrangement for storage of a certain class of drugs at the regional hospital.
In the AG’s reports, it was stated that at the Leguan Health Centre, there were 260 items of expired drugs on hand that related to the year 2018 and prior years. Further, the expired drugs were being stored in boxes in the same room as drugs that were being dispensed for public consumption. In addition, there was a leaking roof with visible evidence of water stains at the location where the drugs were being stored.
While at the Versailles Health Centre, it was pointed out that a small quantity of expired drugs was evident, while drugs that were stored for public consumption were in a cupboard that was very
congested and there were no labels to differentiate the different types of drugs on hand. Further, drugs were stored in a room with no air conditioning unit and the electrical point and stand fan were both out of order, therefore, at certain times of the day the room would become very hot and as such not be the ideal condition under which drugs should be stored.
Despite the undertaking from the accounting officer in 2017 to remedy the situation the AG’s report said in both instances the matter was also reported in the year 2018, however, no action was taken to have this issue resolved.
