E-drug: Health Ministry seeks help in destroying expired drugs
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[This is to remind the community of donors of what they did in Bosnia with
the wish that such a catastrophy will never happen again. We donate useless
drugs or drugs of bad quality, but refuse to address the problem of waste
disposal. Some organisations and governments should feel very much ashamed!
The problem with the incinerator in Mostar is partly political, but still I
feel the donors should have been forced to accept the donations being
returned with no cost to Bosnia and Herzegovina long time ago.
Unfortunately, though, not all donors could be identified. Cross-posted
from SIGN. KM]
BOSNIA: Health Ministry Seeks Help In Destroying Expired Drugs
9 June 2001
The Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska has 100 metric tons of medical
drugs that have passed their sell-by date, but the government does not have
the resources to dispose of them. Most of the drugs are remains of
donations
that saved many lives when received during the country's 1992-95 war.
Another 700 metric tons need to be disposed of in the Muslim-Croat
Federation, the other part of Bosnia. Republika Srpska Health Minister
Milorad Balaban said a mobile incinerator would help solve the problem. The
World Health Organization provided an incinerator in the town of Mostar, he
said, but it never went into operation. "We need a mobile one, as the drugs
are not all in the same place," Balaban said. Some of the drugs are sitting
unprotected outside hospitals.
Doctors fear a medical disaster. Dr. Ranko Skrbic, head of the Republika
Srpska commission for drugs and PHARE (the European Union assistance
program
for Bosnia- Herzegovina and other countries in the region) said that
finding
a solution to the problem of outdated drugs in Bosnia is urgent.
(Tanja Subotic, Agence France-Presse)
Kirsten Myhr
Head of Eastern Region Drug Information Centre
RELIS Ost
Ulleval University Hospital
0407 Oslo, Norway
Tel.: +47 23 01 64 11(o) Fax: +47 23 01 64 10
+47 22 56 05 85 (h) mobile: +47 416 38 747
myhr@online.no (h), kirsten.myhr@relis.ulleval.no (o)
www.relis.no
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