Intercare, a charitable organisation based in Leicester, England, which has for the past 30 years received returned prescription medicines and then distributed them to the needy in Africa, is being forced to suspend all operations because the UK government’s Environment Agency has decreed that the drugs should be classed as waste and under EU regulations be buried in landfill.
On the face of it this is nuts. Intercare receives the surplus medicines, which are in-date and sealed, from various UK GP clinics and manufacturers; it is surplus for various reasons, including damaged packaging, cancelled orders and batch over-runs. They are then inspected by retired National Health Service professionals such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and sent - only to order - on to 94 clinics in Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Zambia, covering 2.5 million people. All the time specifically approved by the World Health Organistion (WHO), even though, as Christopher Booker of The Daily Telegraph noted, the Agency “even talks self-importantly of the need to comply with WHO guidance”.
As reported by the BBC, while the Agency said they couldn’t comment on on-going investigations, they did state that
pharmaceutical goods such as pills and medicines could contain a wide range of chemicals and drugs that could be harmful to both humans and the environment.
All of which the WHO has missed but the real medical experts at the Agency haven’t. They added that as “the regulator” - as opposed to human beings? -
“we have a duty to ensure that that this waste is being disposed of and handled correctly. Sometimes these drugs are shipped to other countries that may need them and while we recognise the intention is to be of assistance to developing countries they need to follow the controls. These rules help to make sure that waste from this country isn’t dumped illegally overseas.” [emphasis added]
One million people so far treated and the Agency apparently thinks the medical staff are going to just let the medicine be “dumped”. Meanwhile, Interface’s chief executive, Margaret Macdonald, was shattered:
“I feel desperate and heartbroken because I know that in the clinics we serve, which are in the most poor, rural and isolated places in Africa, for many people our medicines are the only ones available for those who have no money.”
Dr Tony Jarvis, the charity’s medical director, said:
“There are no double standards. We send in-date medicines and we also visit the units in Africa regularly so we have a contact with them and that all follows the World Health Organisation regulations.”
Interface now has to attend an interview with the Environment Agency - “creating a better place” - and faces possible prosecution. Makes the blood boil, no? If one has any, of course.
Here is Interface’s official reaction and plea as per their website:
URGENT NEWSFLASH
Inter Care is fighting for its very existence……
As a result of legal action against Inter Care by the Environment Agency we are in the process of suspending all activities involving collection and screening of returned prescription medicines as they, allegedly, contravene environmental protection legislation. The legal fees incurred in fighting this prosecution threaten to bankrupt us.
However, we have 94 African healthcare units, desperately in need of our supply of medicines. So, to maintain this supply, we must purchase generic versions of the basic medicines. It will cost at least £50,000 to partly replace the £300,000-worth of returned branded prescription drugs (many are too expensive to even consider purchasing).
If you want to help us, please donate what you can by cheque payable to Inter Care and send to Inter Care, 46 The Halfcroft, Syston, LE7 1LD. Please include your name and address and if appropriate, a paragraph stating you pay tax (income or capital gains) at least equal to the 28% refund we can reclaim from your gift (Gift Aid). All donations will be acknowledged unless you state otherwise.
Alternately, visit our website www.medicalaidforafrica.org.uk for information about our new sponsorship scheme of ‘responsibility shares’ in our African hospitals.
Kind regards,
Margaret Macdonald
Chief ExecutiveRegistered Charity 275637
