Karnataka Government set to introduce an expired drug disposal policy, draft getting ready

Bengaluru, June, 2016:

Karnataka Government is expected to complete a draft of the new drug disposal policy by next month. The policy will put in place a set of procedures for the disposal of date expired and not-of-standard quality drugs in the state.

The move is the wake of accumulation of stocks of date expired drugs in the warehouses of the State Health Department. Last month the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the Karnataka Drugs Control Department identified Satva Health Solutions to initiate a pilot project for finding innovative methods of management of discarded medicines. All efforts to dispose of expired drugs valued over Rs.10 crore stored in warehouses of the health department will be made within the next six months, said Karnataka minister for health and family welfare U T Khadar. He said that the policy will be finalized by next month and expired drugs stored from the past 14 years in warehouses will be disposed.

“With the introduction of the new policy, we can dispose of drugs every year and 0.5 per cent drug destruction will be collected from public to meet the expenditure,” said the Karnataka Health Minister Khader. A software has been introduced to digitize data of all drugs and logistics. It will help the department to monitor the purchase, stock and movement of medicines in all districts, said Health Minister.

“A tender has been invited to dispose of drugs and the entrusted agency will collect drugs from all warehouses and dispose them,” he said. To dispose the present expired drugs, Rs.1 crore is needed and an average Rs.3-5 lakh worth of medicines expire in each district once in four months. The largest expired drug stocks are at the warehouses in Bengaluru and Bengaluru Rural, he said.
Earlier, R Shashimohan, Managing Director & CEO, Satva Health Solutions had told sources that that Standard Operating Procedure on discarded and cytotoxic waste management under the guidance of Dr Yellappa Reddy & Almithra Patel were ready. He said, “We also conducted a trial run which indicated 1,000 pharmacists in Karnataka with 33 per cent registrations and collected about 1,000 kgs of waste. Now we have tied up with under-utilized bio-medical waste disposal units to capitalize their capacity efficiently for clearance of these drugs”.

As per the new policy guidelines, expired drugs stocked in warehouses will be disposed of scientifically through an agency that is approved by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, said Minister for Health and Family Welfare Khader.

"As per the new policy guidelines, the drug stocks will be disposed as per Karnataka State Pollution Control Board norms every year," he said.

 drugscontrol.kerala