Healthcare – West Bengal Plans Weekly Medicine Audits to Prevent Use of Expired Drugs
Healthcare – The West Bengal Health Department is preparing to implement a new standard operating procedure (SOP) that will require all government hospitals and medical college hospitals across the state to conduct a weekly inspection of their medicine inventories, with a special focus on identifying and removing expired drugs.
The state government has approved the proposal as part of a broader effort to strengthen patient safety and improve medicine management in public healthcare institutions. Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay has cleared the introduction of the SOP, which is expected to establish a more structured monitoring mechanism for pharmaceutical stocks across state-run medical facilities.
Weekly inspections to focus on expiry dates
According to officials familiar with the plan, every government hospital and medical college hospital will be required to carry out a detailed review of its medicine inventory every week. During these inspections, authorities will carefully verify manufacturing and expiry dates to ensure that no outdated medicines remain available for patient use.
Officials said that any medicine found to have crossed its expiry date, even by a single day, will be immediately removed from stock. The expired products will then be destroyed without delay to eliminate any possibility of them being reused or entering the market through unauthorized channels.
The department believes that regular monitoring will significantly reduce the risk of expired medicines being stored or administered in public healthcare facilities.
Strict action for repeated violations
The proposed SOP also includes accountability measures for hospital administrations. If inspections reveal serious lapses in stock management or repeated instances of expired medicines being retained in storage, the concerned authorities may face disciplinary action.
Health department officials indicated that hospitals identified as repeat offenders will receive show-cause notices, requiring them to explain the reasons behind the violations and the corrective measures taken to prevent future occurrences.
The move is intended to encourage stricter compliance with inventory management protocols and reinforce responsibility at the institutional level.
Complaints prompted stronger monitoring
Officials said the decision to introduce weekly medicine audits follows several complaints received over the past few years regarding the alleged use of expired medical supplies in government healthcare facilities.
Among the reported incidents were allegations that patients, including new mothers and newborn babies, had been administered expired saline solutions and expired Ringer’s lactate. These complaints raised concerns about quality control and the monitoring of medicine stocks in public hospitals.
The department believes that systematic weekly verification can help prevent similar situations by ensuring expired medicines are identified before they reach patients.
Concerns over unauthorized circulation
Apart from patient safety inside hospitals, the government is also attempting to address concerns regarding the movement of expired medicines outside medical institutions.
Officials said there have been allegations that expired medicines from some government healthcare facilities were later distributed through unauthorized voluntary health camps, creating potential health risks for people receiving treatment there.
To prevent such misuse, the new SOP will require immediate destruction of expired medicines after they are removed from inventory, leaving no opportunity for them to be diverted for illegal circulation.
Investigations already underway
The issue has also attracted administrative attention following reports of expired medicines being recovered from some of the former Sebaashray health camps organized under the leadership of Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee.
In response, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has directed both the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police and the state Health Department to conduct separate investigations into the matter.
Officials believe the upcoming SOP will complement these efforts by introducing a uniform monitoring system that emphasizes regular audits, prompt disposal of expired medicines, and stronger oversight of pharmaceutical inventories across government healthcare facilities.