E-drug: Quality assurance (cont'd)
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Dear E-druggers,
I have missed the QA discussion and my points may have been raised already.
During a recent trip by FBA to Kyrghizstan an alarming comment was made by
the pharmaceutical co-ordinator for the World Bank. The remark was "If we
bought the syringes we would not have enough money to buy the drugs". The
assumptions behind this remark were:
A) a disposable syringe is a disposable syringe is a disposable syringe
(quality
is universal)
B) people will buy their own
A year or two ago an European manufacturer of disposable syringes (Sanavit
of
Romania) submitted their product for inclusion in the supplies of a UN
agency.
The product was tested and failed every safety/sterility test.
In May of last year a report in the North West Frontier Post in Pakistan
reported
a widespread scam by local manufacturers whereby people were encouraged to
return the used syringes for recycling. This came to light because new
disposable syringes at the Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar were found
with
dried blood on them. People may well buy their own but will they be
sterile?
QA must not only include the product but also the means of delivery, the
best
drug in the world can kill you when delivered by an unsafe syringe/needle.
Anthony Battersby
FBA Health Systems Analysts
e-mail: FBA@compuserve.com
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