Quality of Medicines Given to Residents Assured

Health authorities here assured on Friday that all medicines being used and distributed by the City Health Office to local residents are in order and of good quality.

Rose Adtoon, CHO administrative officer, issued the assurance as she clarified that their office had not dispensed expired medicines as claimed by a resident in a post circulating in the social media.

She was referring to a post in a Facebook forum that said two bottles of expired 100mg Amoxicillin suspension drops were reportedly dispensed by their office during a recent “Barangayan” program of the city government in Barangay Conel.

The post included photos of the medicines that indicated its expiry date last June 17 or nearly a month before they were supposedly distributed.

Adtoon admitted that they noticed two bottles of expired Amoxicillin drops among the medicines that they brought to Conel last July 14 but noted that they were not released or dispensed as claimed.

She said they immediately recalled the two medicines and placed them securely in a box that they brought back to their office.

A team assigned by the office of City Mayor Ronnel Rivera to look into the incident saw the medicines still intact at the CHO, she said.

“The photos of the expired medicines attached to the post clearly did not come from us. I think it was mainly meant to discredit us and the city,” Adtoon said in a briefing.

The official said that aside from the two expired medicines that were not dispensed, there are no other similar stocks in their inventory.

She said the CHO received 112 bottles of “near expiry” Amoxicillin drops last March 9 but they already released them to two barangays as of May 4.

In June, she said they started to dispense new stocks of the medicine that will expire in September 2018.

“Rest assured that the city government does not purchase and dispense expired medicines. We always wake sure that we provide quality medicines and services to our residents,” Adtoon added. (AVE/PNA)