Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, Makurdi has destroyed expired drugs and other consumables worth over N200 million at the Mohammadu Buhari Mother and Child Hospital.
Speaking at the destruction exercise in Makurdi, Benue State, on Friday, the Chief Medical Director, CMD, BSUTH, Dr Stephen Hwande said the hospital is also seeking the approval of relevant authorities to dispose of over 100 corpses abandoned at the mortuary, some of them, for over three years.
The CMD who disclosed this after he toured the hospital, explained that the hospital management had already written to the Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, informing him of the development and seeking his consent to proceed.
The corpses abandoned were those either brought to the hospital by the police or soldiers from scenes of herdsmen attacks or accident scenes and have remained unclaimed since then.
Dr Hwande noted that “there are over 100 unclaimed corpses in the morgue. For the corpses, we have written to the commissioner of Police to give us the right to dispose of them”.
On the expired drugs, Dr 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 around the stores and discovered expired drugs worth over N200 million and consumables in the stores. That large quantity of drugs could be used to set up the biggest pharmacy in the state”
“It is surprising that these are drugs acquired by the hospital to be used for patients. So, why were the drugs abandoned to the point of expiry, one cannot say”.
“When you get drugs with short dates, what to do is to convey some of it to other hospitals, or 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 needs drugs”.
He further explained that there was no reason to privatise the pharmacy with drugs worth millions of naira just to leave the drugs to expire.
“I am in discussions with top pharmaceutical companies geared at supplying the hospital with quality drugs to enable us to maintain a top-level service and stop unwholesome practices in the hospital. I have also written off the privatized Radiology section to bring it back under the hospital management”. He said.
The drugs set destroyed include antibiotics, antihypertensive, and anti-malaria, including consumables like iodine, bandages and urine bags.
Dr Hwande disclosed that “the hospital started a Mother and Child care programme two days ago. We are running outpatient health insurance, and that is where we want to start the IVF (Invitro Fertilization) too and then, the maternity. Mother and child consultations are free for children under 5 and pregnant women”.
