A treasure trove in a trash can

Millions of rupees worth of UNICEF-donated medicines were left to expire in Shikarpur

SUKKUR: Instead of being given to the ailing poor, medicines worth millions of rupees were allowed to expire and were subsequently dumped outside the district health office at the Civil Hospital in Shikarpur on Friday.

Shikarpur-based journalists arrived at the scene and caught the store incharge, Abdul Rehman Shar, red-handed as he dumped the medicine in the garbage and tried to hide the evidence by covering it with bushes. Despite his attempt to conceal his activities, the journalists removed the bushes and discovered vast amounts of medicines, including tablets, syrups, suspensions, ampules and syringes. One such disposed of drug was Ethambutol, which is used to treat tuberculosis.





According to a Shikarpur-based journalist, the store incharge claimed that the medicines were provided by the UNICEF and, as they had expired, he had to throw them away, as directed by his superiors. While rummaging through the dumped medicine, the journalists found that some of them had expired in 2014 and some in October 2015.

When contacted, the district health officer Shikarpur, Dr Imtiaz Farooqui, expressed ignorance about the matter and said he had been in Karachi since Friday and could not comment. "Since my posting in Shikarpur more than two months ago, I have not purchased any medicine," he claimed. However, Dr Farooqui admitted that some medicines provided by UNICEF were lying in their store, but said he had no knowledge about their dates of expiration. He claimed the health secretary has appointed the Larkana health director as an inquiry officer, who will investigate the matter and submit a report.



The Shikarpur deputy commissioner, Abid Saleem Qureshi, talking to The Express Tribune, expressed shock at the news, of which he was informed by some media personnel. "Throwing away medicines instead of giving it to the poor and needy is an act of criminal negligence and the responsible persons will be taken to task," he said. Qureshi said that during the recent floods, they had received some food items, which were distributed among the affected people. Some bags of dry rations were lying in my office, which have been distributed among the poor and needy, otherwise they would have gone to waste, he recalled. "This action [allowing the medicine to expire] is simply intolerable and painful, because those medicines were meant for the poor and needy," he lamented.

Pakistan Muslim League - Functional MPA from Shikarpur and advisor to the Prime Minister Imtiaz Shaikh strongly criticised this negligence and said he has informed the Sindh health minister and secretary about the matter. It is quite unfortunate that on one hand, the poor and needy are longing for medicines, while on the other truck loads of medicines have been dumped in the garbage, said Shaikh.



He accused Shar of being 'corrupt to the core'. There are many corruption cases against him, but the man is so powerful that even the minister could not remove him, he claimed. "I will follow this case and with the help of the media, ensure that the culprits are punished accordingly," Shaikh vowed.

Despite repeated attempts, the Sindh health secretary, Dr Saeed Mangenjo, could not be reached for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2015.