If medicines are not disposed of properly there could be serious health implications for not only Gaza but also Israel. There is no doubt that hospitals in the Gaza Strip are in dire straights, desperately in need of medicine and technology. However, millions of dollars worth of useless, out of date or expired medicine is being sent to the enclave as aid. And the expired medicine is ending up in land-fills which are not properly equipped to deal with medical waste.
The First International HPV Vaccine Information Clearinghouse
Sandy L says
October 2, 2011 at 11:46 amThis is cynical, greedy, unethical and it is criminal. The way to help is not by providing unnecessary and dangerous pharmaceuticals. The way to help is not by providing vaccines to those who have poor nourishment or compromised immunity due to illness, as they will become even more ill.
The way to help is to provide access to clean water, good nutrition and satisfactory housing. This will lead to general health improvement, stronger immune systems and the decline of infectious diseases.
Barbara says
October 5, 2011 at 1:51 amThis is just ridiculous. But it also makes me think of something I’ve come to be very knowledgeable about, which is the expiration dates on many medications are not the true date. I’ve found many over the counter drugs that do not expire for several years after the printed date. This is just Big Pharma trying to keep their turnover up, by marking the dates lower people waste the medications by disposing of what they don’t use. So, this story is a great distraction to the real issue of the medications are fine to use well past the date. With a few exceptions.