E-DRUG: The use of expired e-drugs (end)
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Christel, et al.
I hope nobody here on the list took anything I wrote personally. That
was not my intention. In fact I feel my contribution was rather mellow
:-)-O (Ruanda vs Kosovo, when I mean black vs white). I feel,
however, very strongly that if the stuff is not good enough any more
for Germans, Dutch or Americans it can not be good enough any more for
Namibians.
Apart from the racial (it is at least patronizing) issue, what this
does at least is to make otherwise well meaning but relatively
uninformed donors go through stock looking for stuff that is expiring
(even if 6-12 months shelf life remain) instead of looking for stuff
that is on the (Namibian) Essential Drug list. It is also not helpful
that it is cheaper moving these items to Africa than disposing of them
in accordance with those strict environmental laws you have over
there. And there are tax writeoffs for donations over there.
With regards to qualifications of staff in developing countries, it is
a general tendency in the development business to "overlook" local
talent no matter how good they are. Not just in the Medical field.
And, many of us are in fact trained overseas...
el
Dr Eberhard W Lisse
Email: el@linux.lisse.na
[maybe we should close this discussion? WB]
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