Zambia’s regulator of medicines on Wednesday ordered the recall of expired drugs that were supplied to government hospitals recently.
The expired drugs were supplied by a company called Honey Bee to the ministry of health at a cost of 17 million dollars.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia revealed last week that the health kits recently distributed by the government contained expired drugs, a move that has caused consternation in the country.
But the Zambia medicines regulatory authority has called on the company that supplied the drugs mainly Paracetamol to initiate the process of recalling the consignment.
However, most of the drugs have changed colors, indicating that they were not good for human consumption.
Jerome Kanyika, the regulator’s president said in a letter addressed to the company that analysis of the drugs at the National Drug Quality Control Laboratory found them out of specification.
The regulator has also ordered the company to submit a reporting process, which should include the quantity of the products imported and the quantity collected from various health facilities.
