Expired Food & Medicine Problem in Kabul

[Haris]

Expired food, medicine
flood Kabul




KABUL (PAN): Poverty, lack of awareness and inadequate government
checks have paved the way for the open sale of substandard medicine and
food items in Kabul.

Sold cheaply, the spurious drugs are often purchased by the needy and
uneducated individuals. Pushcart owners who sell the drugs face no
problem in their business and refuse to reveal the supply source.

"Buy the unexpired medicine," shouts a 20-year-old, Ali, after selling
eatables. He is in a bid to attract customers. "They are all fresh," he said,
pointing to the items in his cart.

When Pajhwok Afghan News showed the boy the expiry date on his
foodstuffs, he tended to seek refuge behind illiteracy.

Islamuddin, who had purchased an expired drink in Pul-i-Kheshti area of
Kabul, also linked his mistake to illiteracy and urged the government to
collect spurious medicine from the market.

However, educated but economically disadvantaged people deliberately
buy the foodstuffs for being inexpensive. Khan Muhammad, wearing old
shoes, had bought two "Laila" milk packs. "I know it is expired, but I can
afford only this."

Asked why he had purchased the expired product, he replied it cost 12
afghanis in the open market, but he bought it for only 8afs. He has not yet
faced any problem, consuming expired foodstuffs. People buy expired
medicine and nothing happens to them, he insists.

A Ministry of Public Health spokesman, admitting the existence of expired
foodstuffs in Kabul markets, said they had collected four tonnes of such
items this year.

Only 12 people are working in the MoPH to check the quality and expiry of
foodstuffs in markets, he said, complaining they are unable to cover the
whole city. More than 100 inspectors are needed for the task but the
Ministry of Finance does not allow budget for it, he added.

Aziz Shams, spokesperson for the MoF, said they consider MoPH requests
based on priority and affordability. He suggested the MoPH could divert
finances from other heads to fund inspectors' salaries.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock and the Kabul
Municipality are also responsible for inspecting foodstuff quality.

Muhammad Aziz Osmani, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture,
said they were jointly working with MoPH and Kabul Municipality to inspect
food quality. They have jointly collected a huge amount of expired items.
They have seven staffers to cover the entire city.

Despite efforts, Pajhwok Afghan News could not reach the municipality for
comments on the public health issue. People complain the inspectors take
bribes from businessmen. But the officials reject the allegation as baseless.

[faye]

this is disgusting and happens in many third world countries. out of date products can be dangerous as well as not working.

[unknownprince]

I am sure these criminals are giving their expired medicine to Afghanistan.

[graveyardofempires]

i heard they buy medicines in Pakistan in by kilos and all medicines put in one bag.

[faye]

in india, u.s. pharmaceutical companies are using uneducated poor people as guinea pigs for their medicines. sometimes the people don't even know they are being experimented on. the indian government allows this.
afghanis will have to watch out for this too, as they are doing it around the world in poor countries.

[Haris]

14 truckloads of expired
medicine seized







KABUL (PAN): Ministry of Interior officials said on Monday 14 truckloads of expired
medicine were seized in the Binihisar area of Kabul.

The drugs smuggled into the country were recovered in the Wali Rahman market and
seven suspects arrested, the ministry spokesman, Siddique Siddiqui, told a news
conference.

Shown to media representatives, one of the detainees said he had smuggled the
medicine from Pakistan through southeastern Khost province.

The drugs included sedatives, tonics, antibiotics and drips, which were either expired,
or low quality or with no expiry dates. They were to be labeled in Kabul, public health
ministry spokesman Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said.

Some of the medicines were only for the Pakistani Army, he said. Other drugs were of
low quality, Kargar added.

On June 27, the ministry torched 15 tonnes of expired medicine and food items
collected from different stores in the capital.

[Laila]

Getting expired medication from Pakistan, Iran, and other countries is very cheap, its like getting their left over meds.

[Haris]

People end up worse off when they take such medicine.
Some even die as a result.


People complain of
substandard medicines sale
in Kabul

KABUL: Poverty, lack of awareness and poor government control mechanisms has
paved the way for the open sale of substandard medicines in the capital market.

The problem of spurious, low-quality expired medicines in the capital market is
emerging as a major problem for patients seeking medical treatment that often ends
up sicker than the past.

Some medical experts believe that the law quality of medicines means that patients,
who could be cured in two to three days now take months to treat and recover. In
the worst cases, these medicines have caused the deaths of many patients.

Samad Yuosufzai, who referred the patients to the doctor in one of private hospitals,
told Afghanistan Times Daily that he spent all his money on medicine and hospital’s
fees, but the patient showed no improvement.

“They are writing prescription after prescription, but due to cheap medicines, my
patient's condition did not change. Now he is in a critical condition so I have to
dispatch him to Pakistan for treatment”, he added.

Rustam Oryakhil, resident of Kabul said “I bought medicines based on doctor’s
prescription which was nearly expired.”

These problems are rising day by day among residents; on other hand because of lack
of knowledge and illiteracy, people can’t know the expiry date of medicines. Likewise,
medicines are still sold in sidewalks and roadsides of the city.

Afghan doctors believe that the main reason that patients do not get cured in
Afghanistan is not the quality of the doctors or medical care, but that of medicines.
Medicines available in Afghanistan did not meet prescribed standards.
The smallest amount of good quality medicines available is too expensive for most
people.

They said that the low-quality medicines are not only insufficient for the patients, but
worsen their condition too.

To prevent the import and using of low-quality and expired medicines, the residents
asked the relevant government organs to accelerate their monitoring and stop import
of above-mentioned drugs.

There are over hundred companies that import medicines, which some of them import
low-quality and fake medicine from China, Pakistan and Iran in order to make more
profit. But the association of medicine importers rejected such claims. They say some
people illegally import fake medicines.

Dr Ghulam Sakhi Kargar, a spokesperson for Public Health Ministry said there is a
department in the ministry that checks and controls quality of medicines.

Every day, the department has frequently been collecting low-quality and expire
medicines in the city, especially from pharmacies and street vendors.

Kargar, while confirmed existing low quality medicines in the market said the main
reason ahead of importing of mentioned medicines is the open border. But health
ministry has taken serious measures regarding prevention of sale of such drugs and it
will find and close the drug stores of violators.

Tons of low-quality and expired medicines have been wasted so far countrywide.
It’s worth mention that Ministry of Public Health wasted around 300 tones of
low-quality and outdated medicines last year.


People complain of substandard medicines sale in Kabul

[IamDZJ]

might as well poison these poor people

[Laila]

Could they also be counterfeit medication?

[Haris]

^ I am sure they are widespread.

There are over hundred companies that import medicines, which some of them
import low-quality and fake medicine from China, Pakistan and Iran in order to make
more profit. But the association of medicine importers rejected such claims. They
say some people illegally import fake medicines.

A very serious problem.