The Nairobi City Court has summoned two directors of a private hospital in South C for treating patients with expired drugs.
Africare Limited is accused of administering expired drugs to unsuspecting patients and residents.
The two, Jaron Chaboya and Michael Mukaya, are to appear before the court on February 19 to answer to charges of selling drugs contrary to section 9 and punishable under section 36(1) of the Foods, Drugs and Chemical Substance Act Cap 254.
The facility was found to be in possession of drugs that expired as far back as March 2019.
Some had November 2019 as the expiry date.
Some of these drugs includes Acetone, HCL, Alkaline Phosphate, Field Stain B, among others.
Most of the drugs like Lugos Iodine and Total Protein Plus had no expiry dates.
County Deputy Director for Public Health Wilson Lang’at confirmed that the county health officers who are currently checking on all health facilities in the county carried out a test on the quality and state of drugs being administered at the facility.
“Our officers are on routine inspection of all health facilities and l can confirm that we have a case at Africare Limited and the same is now at the court level,” Lang’at said.
The county officers are conducting tests on chemicals and drugs in all the facilities.
Lang’at has called on residents to carefully check on the expiry date on the labels of drugs given to them.
He said that the county is likely going to revoke Africare’s license until the court finalises its case against the two directors.
Health officers who work at the facility have also been asked to appear before relevant government agencies to answer to questions on their code of conduct.
Lang’at has warned that any other facility found engaging in the dangerous act risks having their licences cancelled and the operators arraigned in court.
“I am appealing to members of the public to be cautious and check on the expiry date on the drug labels,” he added.
The County is working in collaboration with state agencies to reinforce policies related to quality of drugs and professional conduct of health practitioners.
Meanwhile, supermarkets that are still secretly selling fast foods and, specifically, meat with excess preservatives have been warned to abide by the food handling regulations.
According to Lang’at, the practice has incredibly reduced but county health officers are still on the lookout.
“We are still following up strictly to ensure food handlers are operating within industry regulations,” Lang’at said.
Last year, the county shut down food sections of five major supermarkets for selling meat that had excess food preservatives.
Kenyan Business Feed is the top Kenyan Business Blog. We share news from Kenya and across the region. To contact us with any alert, please email us to [email protected]