GORKHA, Sept 19: District Public Health Office (DPHO) of Gorkha has stored various kinds of medicines which expired more than a decade ago. Though the store room has been full of such drugs, nothing has been done for their disposal. According to the officials of the DPHO, the disposal of expired medicines is a lengthy and messy process.
"There is a separate committee responsible for the disposal of expired medicines. But it does so when the amount of such medicines reaches a critical level," said Kedar Raj Parajuli, chief of the
DPHO, adding, "Even my predecessors took no steps for the disposal of the expired medicines."
Disposal of medicines requires a temperature as high as 1,100 degree centigrade. A cement factory is a place where expired medicines can be disposed.
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"As per the rules, health posts cannot burry or burn the medicines on their own and the disposal committee won't dispose them until they are collected in huge volumes," said Chandra Sunar, storekeeper of the DPHO.
Instead of distributing medicines to the health posts on time, the DPHO keeps them in its own store. Shortage of medicines at the health posts and large quantities of expired medicines at the DPHO proves that the medicine distribution is not effective in the district.
