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Letters to the Editor
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Drug donations
Let us get it right
From Mr R. I. Dunkley, MRPharmS
I read with interest the letter from Victoria
Parker (PJ, 1/8 January,
p12) about “dumping” drugs. Her experiences are my experiences:
drugs out of date and drugs not needed at the destination country. (Is
there a use for loprazolam in Africa?)
A few years ago I was fortunate to be a member of a Rotary
Convoy to Ukraine (PJ, 22/29 December, 2001, p921) because I was a pharmacist and had knowledge
about drugs. Before I went, I asked the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s
law department about what legal requirements I would have to meet to take
the medicines across various borders. Staff were helpful, pointed me in
the right direction and told me what I had and had not to do. Secondly,
I asked the Rotary Club at our destination (Uzgarod in Ukraine) what medicines
they wanted. I received a list of their wants and went about sourcing the
medicines.
These two pieces of advice I pass on: understand the law and make sure
you know what is needed at the destination. Because of the recent tsunami
disaster, there will be people wanting to help in any way they can, so
catastrophic has been the event. Pharmacists will be approached to receive
donations. Please check that what you are being offered to send is what
is needed at the destination and that the medicine is in date.
Sending medicines that are surplus to requirements abroad is a worthwhile
activity, but let us get it right at this end, so that fellow pharmacists
like Ms Parker do not have to sort through boxes and boxes of medicines
to find the ones they need, and then have to think about disposing of those
they do not.
Bob Dunkley
Leeds |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal