Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital medical superintendent Collet
Mawire has allayed fears among patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) that
they are being given expired drugs.
Following concerns by some patients that the tablets
distributed had a June 2018 expiry date, Mawire said the Medicine Control
Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) tested the drugs and gave them another year.
“On the issue of ART tablets, we were given the go-ahead to
distribute them following some tests after the expiry date. So it is above
board, it is in order,” he said.
Provincial medical director Wensilus Nyamayaro said the
procedure was that they should stop distributing either tablets or medicine on
the day of expiry and send samples to MCAZ, which will advise whether to remove
them from the shelf or to continue for a subscribed time. Some people on the
ART programme had raised concerns about the tablets distributed last week which
had a June 2018 expiry date.
Getrude Shoniwa, who realised this anomaly when already at
home, said the trust one has on the drugs has been eroded.
“Yes, they might say the drugs are still working, but the
mere fact that I know that the date is way past what is written might not augur
well with some of us since healing, be it spiritual or medical, is based on
trust,” Shoniwa said. Another patient who requested anonymity said it was
better to take expired tablets that nothing at all. Newsday
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