Expired medicines recovered from Yamunanagar Asha workers

YAMUNANAGAR: The district health department had to face embarrassment after expired medicines were recovered from Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha) workers. Fortunately, it was detected before the kits were taken to be distributed among pregnant ladies and newborns.
Paracetamol syrup bottles which had expired on December 28, 2016, were being carried by the health workers on January 6-7 who had gone to the field after completing a training programme.
The matter came to light when an Asha worker had placed his kit at the residence of word number 14 municipal councillor (MC) Nirmal Chauhan on Saturday so that it could be distributed on Sunday. But, the MC noticed that the syrup had expired. After it was conveyed to the health department, the officials had gone silent.
“The matter of expired medicines has come to our notice. We have asked all the health workers to return the kits immediately and we will destroy them in a day or two,” said civil surgeon Ramesh Kumar.
On being asked who handed over the expired medicines to the Asha workers, Kumar said, “The kits were supplied to the Asha workers in March 2016 and they were opened only after the health workers completed their training programme. This gap led to miscommunication.”