Benue teaching hospital destroys expired drugs ‘worth N200m’ abandoned in store

The management of Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, has destroyed expired drugs and medical consumables estimated to worth N200 million.

Speaking with journalists on Friday during the exercise, Stephen Hwande, the BSUTH chief medical director (CMD), said the drugs were acquired by the hospital but were left unused.

On October 17, Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, had approved Hwande’s appointment as the new CMD of the faciltiy.

“Today we are destroying expired drugs and consumables that are worth over N200 million. I came here two weeks ago and have visited every store,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“During the visit, I discovered drugs worth close to N200 million and consumables inside the store.

“The drugs and consumables were acquired by the hospital, but the same hospital abandoned them to expire in the store.

“Incidentally, same hospital went ahead to privatise it’s pharmaceutical department.

“What is surprising is that these drugs were acquired to be used by this hospital, so why abandon them and privatise the hospital pharmaceutical department.

“You can distribute the drugs to the general hospitals or other hospitals in the state for usage.

“You can also send them to the IDP camps or carry out community medical outreach.

“So, there is no reason to allow this quantity of drugs to expire.”

The CMD also said he discovered over 100 unclaimed corpses in the hospital’s morgue, noting that he had written to the commissioner of police for permission on what he planned to do.