Expired Pharmaceuticals Disposal Facilities to be built
Director General of PFSA, Dr. Loko Abraham, disclosed that modern buildings fitted with smokeless expired pharmaceuticals disposal machines are to be built in eight major regional cities.
The Director General stated that Mekelle, Bahir Dar, Dessie, Jimma, Nekemte, Hawassa, Adama and Dire Dawa make up the eight cities hosting these facilities.
He also added that four to five thousand square meter of land has been acquired in these cities and the environmental assessment of the sights is in progress.
Dr. Loko further stated that the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) handled the bidding process to identify the construction firm that is going to build the facilities.
The eleven million dollar budget earmarked for the project will be covered by Global Fund with the construction expected to be completed by June 2018.
Gaps in the forecasting system, the presumption based purchase of pharmaceuticals for emergency diseases and the long time it takes for pharmaceuticals bought from international pharmaceutical companies to get to their end users are the main reasons for pharmaceuticals to expire in our country.
The construction of these facilities is expected to sustainably solve the long standing chronic problem of a standardized place of disposal.