The Ministry of Health yesterday denied a statement by the Office of the Auditor General in its 2023 report on the public accounts that billions of dollars worth of drugs had expired between 2023 and June this year.
It is unclear how the ministry can now dispute this when it had been given a chance by the Office of the Auditor General to respond to this during routine auditing.
The contention by the Auditor General’s Office would be deeply embarrassing to the government.
In a statement via the Department of Public Information, the Ministry of Health said it “firmly denies the recent article alleging that billions of dollars of drugs expired between 2023 and 2024”.
It didn’t identify the report but yesterday’s Stabroek News carried a news item on the expired drugs.
The Ministry release went on to say that “this claim is misleading and inaccurate and misrepresents the Auditor General’s report”. There was no misrepresentation as the Stabroek News report accurately related the findings of the Auditor General’s Report which was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
“The Ministry wishes to clarify that the expired medications, medical supplies, and laboratory supplies in question date back to before 2022 and, in some instances, were from 2019 and beyond. These are now being responsibly disposed of by national and international safety protocols. For the medications bought in 2023, $12,546,000 expired or 0.1%; similarly, for 2024, $13,471,899 expired or 0.06%.
“The drugs referenced in the article were procured and stocked primarily before 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have since expired due to various factors, including changes in medical needs, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and new treatment protocols. The Ministry has been engaged in an ongoing process of identifying and safely disposing of these outdated medications to ensure that only viable, effective drugs are available for use”, the ministry’s release said.
The release said that the Ministry of Health remains committed to maintaining the highest standards in healthcare delivery. It added that regular audits are conducted to monitor pharmaceutical stocks, and “efforts are underway to strengthen the supply chain management system”.
The Ministry said it follows established procedures for the environmentally safe disposal of expired pharmaceuticals, per the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other regulatory authorities. These processes ensure that expired drugs do not pose any health or environmental danger.
The Auditor General’s report said that during the period January 2023 to June 2024, a quantity of drugs totalling $3.228 billion expired and were disposed of by the Ministry of Health. In addition, a quantity totalling $2.332 billion were still on hand to be disposed.
The report said that the Head of Budget acknowledged the finding.
The Auditor General’s report added that a Register of Expired Drugs was not presented for Audit Examination.
“However, the Ministry provided lists containing Expired Drugs disposed and those on hand to be disposed at the Diamond MMU and Ruimveldt locations as summarized in the tables below”, the report said.
Consequently, the Audit Office recommends that the Head of Budget Agency: (i) undertake a survey to determine the realistic needs of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies at these Institu-tions and ensure the proper storage of Drugs and Medical Supplies in order to reduce losses through expiration of improper storage; and (ii) dispose of all expired drugs in accordance with the Food and Drug Regulations.
The expiration of large quantities of drugs has been a perennial problem for ministries of health and particularly under PPP/C governments which have been in charge from 1992 to 2024 save for a five-year period. Promises have been repeatedly made to curb this wastage.
In recent years, the PPP/C government had criticized the APNU+AFC administration over the amount of expired drugs during its tenure from 2015 to 2020.