Health and Family Welfare Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today said that dumping of expired medicines in landfills is an all too common practice but promised that it would end.
Her statement comes days after a pressure group revealed that a large consignment of expired drugs had been discarded at the Marten landfill.
“This is not the first time something like this has happened,” Lyngdoh said today. “I have been informed that these matters recur again and again. We are going to get on the job. We have to take necessary action.”
“We have to communicate very clearly to officials in the department that you are not permitted to do these things for various reasons and once we have the inquiries ready, then I can again share with the public on the actions to be taken and hopefully we will set this right once and for all.”
According to her, when medicines expire, the preferred option is to incinerate the drugs. When this is not possible, dedicated pits are dug where the medicines can be disposed of.
Overseeing this process, the Directorate of Health Services has been mandated to form committees comprising the Pollution Control Board, drugs authority and DHS.
“It is not the right thing to do (dumping medicines in a common landfill). These errors should not be again repeated,” the minister said. “You can’t just walk into a landfill site and dispose of whatever you want according to your whims and fancies. There are procedures and if these were adhered to, we would likely have averted this error.”
A report has reached Lyngdoh’s desk from the DHS and will be sent for further perusal by other members of the civil service to better understand the issue.
