The Ministry of Health, through the National Director of Hospital Support Services, urged the Autonomous Medicine and Health Equipment Services (SAMES) storehouse to be responsible for discarding and burning expired medicines at the Tibar dumpster.
Director Sarmento said the Ministry of Health, despite getting an invitation, did not assist the discarding of medicines in Tibar because the information contained in the invitation was not clear.
According to information he received SAMES unloaded eight times by car expired medicines in mid November 2013 at the Tibar dumpster to be destroyed.
“We didn’t get any information about the medicines to be destroyed by SAMES. We just received an invitation to attend but without a list of items or their value,” said Director Sarmento, in his office in Kaikoli, Dili.
He added the Ministry of Health is unhappy with SAMES’s service because all medicines should have been distributed so as not to waste both donor and the State’s funds.
Meanwhile Member of Parliament (MP), Ilda Maria da Conceição, Commission F (Health, Education, Gender Equality and Veterans Affairs), is disappointed with this situation because she receives many complaints from people who go to public health facilities and have to then go out and purchase their own medicine.
She added when Commission F carried out research at SAMES in 2013 they received additional information that more expired medicines would be destroyed shortly.
“It was unclear. They just said they would burn more medicines shortly, as the medicines were no longer usable,” said MP da Conceição.
The MP urged the Ministry of Health and SAMES to not just blame one another but to instead resolve this issue, as the storehouse is not suitable to keep medicines.
“The roof of the storehouse leaks so when it rains the medicines get wet. We cannot buy medicines just to burn them, especially when patients are complaining about lack of medicines.”
The TDW tried to confirm this issue with the SAMES Director Dr. Odete Maria Freitas Belo but she was not available for an interview.
