Health Ministry suffered large losses due to expired drugs – Auditor General’s report

Big losses were suffered by the Ministry of Health due to the expiration of large quantities of drugs, the 2010 report of the Auditor General has stated.

The report tabled in Parliament earlier this month said that during the period under review, the Ministry “continued to suffer losses due to expiration of large quantities of drugs. Noteworthy was the fact that destruction of expired drugs valued at $39.955M had occurred”. Further, it said that there was a large quantity of expired stock still on hand pending processing and destruction.

Observers say that destruction of such large amounts is usually a sign of poor stores control and a mismatch in ordering.

The report said that in response, the