Samuel Nartey George
The health of residents of Old Ningo and its surrounding communities is in danger following the donation of some supposedly expired medicines to the Old Ningo Health Centre in the Greater Accra Region.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, presented the items to the health centre last month, and this has generated controversy in the area after it had been detected that some of the items had expired over a year ago.
The expired items donated in boxes included surgical hand scrub, which had expired since February 2016; inhalation solution, which expired in April 2017; fusion tube, expired in October 2017, face mask, January 2018; hand sanitizer, among others.
It is believed that medics of the facility detected that some of the items had expired when they wanted to administer them on a patient.
This created fear and panic among residents, especially those who had visited the facility recently.
Investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE revealed that the MP personally presented the items to the health centre on February 5, 2018.
It was gathered that the items were picked from a warehouse in Accra and handed over to the health centre.
A Ghana Health Service (GHS) memo available to DAILY GUIDE and signed by the District Director of Health Service in the Ningo-Prampram District, Gifty Ofori Ansah, indicates that the MP presented some non-medicine consumables to the facility.
According to her, “In the process of sorting the items as part of the storekeeping procedures, the head realized that some of the items had expired and so those were set aside to be disposed of. It is from the lot scheduled for disposal that the photos on social media were taken.”
One of the expired items
She further clarified that there was no record that any of the expired items were used on patients.
The director further mentioned some measures taken by the facility to forestall such occurrence in the future.
She posited, “The head of the facility has been asked to take steps to dispose of the expired items before March 29, 2018.
“Investigations are continuing into the matter and disciplinary action will be taken against staff who are found to have breached the GHS code of conduct, as far as this issue is concerned,” she claimed.
Meanwhile, information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that the head of the facility, Elizabeth Gyimah, has already taken steps to destroy the items.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is said to have launched an investigation into the matter to ensure that the items are not administered on patients.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema