Pharmaceutical products are an important part of disease management.These drugs all have an expiry date beyond which they become toxic rather than therapeutic. Pharmaceutical disposal refers to the process involved in getting rid of drugs that are no longer needed or are expired. To ensure proper disposal by consumers and health institutions, guidelines have made available to all authorities that need them. Most medicines in California can be discarded together with the household trash but only if the label says so.
Some drugs may be given as donations by pharmaceutical companies during disasters as a form of aid. However, these may arrive beyond or close to expiry date. Sometimes they may be labelled in an unfamiliar language or they may be not be appropriate for needs. Also, the packages may be misused if they have a long shelf. Storage can also become a challenge if the drugs come in large quantities.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
Methods used to dispose off drugs must not only be affordable but also ensure they do not expose the public to associated risk. The optimal option is incineration at high temperature, usually above one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, resources may only be available in the developed world.
Before anything else, protective equipment must be adorned. Some of these equipment may include overalls, masks, gloves among others. In methods that require pondering capsules or tablets, face masks come in handy to protect the eyes from splashes. Once one is fully protected, sorting begins. Sorting entails separating drugs that may still be portable from those that require disposal.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Another form of discarding drugs is immobilization. This can be done through either encapsulation or another process that entails rendering the drugs inert. In encapsulation, drugs are packaged into a container which is then filled up by cement or any other appropriate solid materials. The containers should be inspected for explosives prior to filling them with waste.
Sewerage systems can also be used as a way of discarding medication. However this may only be limited to a few drugs such as syrups and intravenous fluids. Some antibiotics are not biodegradable and should not be allowed into sewers as they consume bacterial meant for treating the sewage. Similarly, drugs for treating cancer should not be flushed down into water systems as they end up destroying aquatic animals and contaminate water for drinking.
Some drugs may be given as donations by pharmaceutical companies during disasters as a form of aid. However, these may arrive beyond or close to expiry date. Sometimes they may be labelled in an unfamiliar language or they may be not be appropriate for needs. Also, the packages may be misused if they have a long shelf. Storage can also become a challenge if the drugs come in large quantities.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
Methods used to dispose off drugs must not only be affordable but also ensure they do not expose the public to associated risk. The optimal option is incineration at high temperature, usually above one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, resources may only be available in the developed world.
Before anything else, protective equipment must be adorned. Some of these equipment may include overalls, masks, gloves among others. In methods that require pondering capsules or tablets, face masks come in handy to protect the eyes from splashes. Once one is fully protected, sorting begins. Sorting entails separating drugs that may still be portable from those that require disposal.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Another form of discarding drugs is immobilization. This can be done through either encapsulation or another process that entails rendering the drugs inert. In encapsulation, drugs are packaged into a container which is then filled up by cement or any other appropriate solid materials. The containers should be inspected for explosives prior to filling them with waste.
Sewerage systems can also be used as a way of discarding medication. However this may only be limited to a few drugs such as syrups and intravenous fluids. Some antibiotics are not biodegradable and should not be allowed into sewers as they consume bacterial meant for treating the sewage. Similarly, drugs for treating cancer should not be flushed down into water systems as they end up destroying aquatic animals and contaminate water for drinking.
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