Now Reading: Crores worth of expired medicines dumped in Mayurbhanj river
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Crores worth of expired medicines dumped in Mayurbhanj river
Large quantities of expired medicines, including antibiotics, syringes and testing kits worth crores of rupees, have been found dumped into a river near Mayurbhanj District Headquarters Hospital in Odisha. Social activist Sanjeev…
Large quantities of expired medicines, including antibiotics, syringes and testing kits worth crores of rupees, have been found dumped into a river near Mayurbhanj District Headquarters Hospital in Odisha. Social activist Sanjeev Rout questioned why such a huge quantity of government-procured medicines remained unused despite the hospital keeping records of patient numbers and medicine requirements.
Mayurbhanj Additional District Magistrate Netrananda Mallick said officials had been instructed to focus on rural health, especially for tribal populations. He said an inquiry will be conducted and action taken as per law if the allegations are found to be true. Rout alleged such dumping has happened repeatedly, questioning whether there is an intermediary between the government and hospitals in procurement and supply.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Mass dumping of expired medicines into rivers or open land has been flagged repeatedly by the Comptroller and Auditor General in its health infrastructure reports for Odisha, but prosecution remains rare because local bodies rarely file FIRs unless there is a specific complaint. Under the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, hospitals are required to hand over expired stock to a licensed Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility within 48 hours, a chain that breaks down when hospitals lack contracts with operators or when haulage costs eat into budgets. The sums involved here, crores of rupees worth of antibiotics and syringes, imply either gross over-procurement by the state drug warehouse or a failure to adjust orders against patient loads that the hospital itself claims to record. The DM's promised inquiry will decide whether this becomes a criminal case under the Environment Protection Act or is closed as a procedural lapse.
Source: odishatv.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
