TTH administrative row; Anaesthetists hot over expired drugs

The management of Tamale Teaching Hospital and the Food and Drugs Authority have mounted pressure on anaesthetics to reveal the source of strange expired anesthesia drugs that got it way into the facility and for which reason they attempted withdrawal of services.

Chaos broke out at the facility last month when anesthesia professionals refused to attend to patients after accusing management of providing expired drugs and enforcing its usage pending fresh supplies.

Many patients reportedly suffered multiple complications and were treated at private facilities and the anesthetics raised a red flag after a weeklong usage when data of affected patients began to rise.

They had claimed that four products- Etomidate, Neostigmine, Suxamethonium and Vecuronium had expired but management insisted it should be administered on clients.

An investigation by the Food and Drugs Authority was quickly launched into the matter and after several weeks of the systematic inquiry, the authority has released its findings exonerating the Director of Pharmacy at the facility.

The FDA findings say the hospital pharmacy has good and available stock of all the products mentioned by the anesthetists and acknowledged a robust software known as HAMS where products with proper codes were unable to be supplied after its expiration.

The report also said it noticed a huge variance in the badge number and expiring dates of the samples brought by the anesthetists and management of the facility and explicitly suggesting that the expired products did not come from the hospital’s pharmacy. The Etomidate injection was also found to be a foreign product never stocked by the hospital.

Ultimate news’ Eliasu Tanko reported that the development has angered management of the largest referral center for the country’s north sparking aggressive moves to compel the anesthetists to reveal how the expired products got into the facility.

“I want to put on record that we did not and have never supplied anybody including the Unit of anesthesia with Etomidate injection and they must prove to us and the entire world and in particular the good people of Ghana where that product came from; it’s a foreign product to the institution and they should let us know where it is coming from”, director of pharmacy Dr. Hamidu demanded.

The chief anesthetist could not be immediately reached for comment.