Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on June 6 expressed grave concern over sale of expired drugs at drug counter of SMHS hospital.

“It is shocking to know that expired medicines are given to patients,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement here. On June 5, police revealed that expired intravenous contrast agent was sold at SMHS hospital. The contrast agent is used for CT scan to help doctors to diagnose medical conditions.

Dr Nisar said the original information label of the drug was scrubbed and replaced with new one with extended expiry date. This was proved by the bar code of the product which showed that the medicine was expired and the original expiry date was changed. “Expiry date is the date up until which the manufacturer guarantees the potency and safety of the drug. After the expiry date, the drug is not to be used and is to be discarded as per the protocol. The medicine that is past its expiration date is no longer effective and is unsafe for use,” he informed.

“We do not know how many patients might have received this expired drug and we do not know how many of them might have died due to the drug and ironically these deaths are attributed to patients’ illnesses,” said Dr Nisar. He said this illegal trade of selling expired drugs to patients has been going on for some time now in the hospital, but was not reported so far. “There is a well-oiled nexus between the pharma companies and some officials at SMHS hospital that is pumping these drugs in the hospital,” he added. “The nexus should be probed and people responsible for this criminal activity should be given exemplary punishment so that in future nobody will dare to think of playing with human lives,” Dr Nisar said.