Overstocking of bandages at Central Medical Stores shocks MPs

Endless rows of cartons of Plaster of Paris bandages and X-Ray envelopes in Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) warehouses had members of the Health Committee of Parliament shocked on Thursday during a familiarisation visit.

The committee guided by officials from CMST visited five warehouses to appreciate the extent of stock of medicines and medical supplies but they were shocked to learn that some of the warehouses were keeping items like tubular bandages which expired in 2009.

The bandages, X-Ray envelopes and POP bandages were a result of a misprocurement which occurred over six years ago when CMS, before it became a trust, procured large amounts of the medical supplies beyond the requirement.

“Why did they procure so many POPs? Did they anticipate that Malawians would be breaking bones every day?” Kasungu East MP Grenger Msulira Banda exclaimed during a visit of the Mantino CMST warehouse.

“This is cruel. Even if all 14 million Malawians would break both legs, there is more than enough POP bandages here for that. What happened?” Mchinji West MP Theresa Mwale queried.

Mchinji South MP Jerome Waluza could only say ‘this is shocking’ after seeing bandages which expired in 2009 but were still in large quantities in the warehouse.

CMST Chief Executive officer Feston Kaupa said the overstocking occurred as a misprocurement problem which the new trust was investigating while finding ways of disposing of the items.

He said procedures dictated that the items which have expired, like tubular bandages and POP bandages, be boarded off for a period of time before disposal.

Mwale suggested that CMST should ask for a waiver of the regulation on boarding off so that the trust could stop storing ‘useless’ items while paying millions of kwachas for warehouse rentals.

“In the meantime, we are collecting data of the expired drugs to ascertain their cost. International standards indicate that it should not be more than 5 per cent, that’s the acceptable loss but we expect this to be more than that,” Kaupa said.

He however expressed disappointment that the public would condemn them for destroying the drugs while appealing for funds to replenish their stocks.

Kaupa also dispelled fears of the MPs that there would be no space to store supplies being procured currently such as malaria and cholera which are expected to start coming in end January.

He said it was the wish of the trust to clear the warehouses of the expired drugs and overstocked items while considering reusing some of the expired items.

But he said this would be on the advice of the director of pharmaceutical operations who only joined CMST in December last year.