From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The new Chief Medical Director, (CMD), Benue State University Teaching Hospital, (BSUTH) Dr. Stephen Hwande has destroyed over N200 million worth of expired drugs at the hospital.
Speaking to newsmen during the burning of the drugs on Friday, Hwande also said there are over 100 unclaimed corpses in the hospital’s mortuary when he came into office.
Hwande said, “What is happening here today is the destruction of expired drugs by the hospital. I came in here two weeks ago with a mandate by Governor Hyacinth Alia to revamp and restore the dignity and confidence of this place.
“On assumption, I went round the stores and I discovered drugs worth over 200 million and consumables in the stores.
“I also discovered over 100 unclaimed corpses in the morgue. What is surprising about this is, these are drugs acquired by the hospital to be used by the hospital for the patients. So why did they abandon the drugs to the point of expiration?
“When you get drugs with short dates, you can convey some of these drugs to other hospitals. For instance, we have IDP camps, you can give them, hospitals and you can even do medical outreach with the drugs before they expire.
“There is no reason why you should have drugs worth this amount of money expiring in this hospital when the whole state is in need of drugs.”
He explained that they had to destroy the drugs to prevent people from accessing the store and to use them.
He sad the drugs include every kind of drugs; antibiotics, anti hypertensive, anti-malaria including consumables like iodine, bandages, urine bags, everything this can form a big pharmacy. With this worth of drugs, you can form the biggest pharmacy in Makurdi. Some of the drugs were procured by the hospital, some by contracts. This is not less than 200 million.
He said areas that have been privatized like the Radiology, he has written off. “We are holding a meeting after here with pharmaceutical companies that will come and supply quality drugs for the hospital so that at the end we will put to end some of the unwholesome practices affecting the hospital.
“For the corpses, we have written to the commissioner of Police to give us the right to dispose them.
“We started the Mother and Child two days ago. We are running an outpatient, health insurance, that is where we want to start IVF too and then maternity, mother and child consultations are free for children under five years of age and pregnant women.
“I discovered that the delivery rates are small, compared to the Mother and Child Care hospital. We expect that the number of women that should give birth should be in thousands. So by next week, we will cut the delivery rate by 50 percent. We are reviewing partnership those that do not conform to best practices and standards, we will put them off,” he said.