ABBOTTABAD, Nov 19: An inspection team seized expired medicines worth over Rs40 million from the stores of the Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) during a raid here on Wednesday.

The medicines had been donated by different countries and organisations after the devastating earthquake of Oct 8, 2005 and were dumped in different stores of the hospital.

Assistant Coordination Officer (ACO) Mudassir Malik, while giving details to Dawn, said that a three-member team – executive district officer (EDO) health, drug inspector and ACO – raided the Para Medical Institute where the expired medicines were stored.

The medicines were very costly included lifesaving drugs especially those for cardiac malfunction, which cost per injection Rs5,000, and about 400 such injections were found on the occasion, he said.

It may be noted that fifteen days back, medicines worth millions of rupees were burnt into ashes and when the news appeared in a section of the press, the AMC chief executive constituted a committee to investigate the matter but its findings are still awaited. Two days back, the hospital administration made an attempt to send medicines to Balochistan for the earthquake affected peoples, but the drug inspector raided the consignment and found most of the medicines expired, which were to be dispatched to the recent quake victims in the province. The entire consignment was confiscated by the Mir Pur police on the requisition of the drug inspector.

Mr Malik said that Commissioner Hazara Syed Javed Shah had constituted a four-member team – ACO, EDO health, drug inspector and district officer planning – to conduct complete inquiry and submit final report in seven days time.

It was alleged that medicines worth millions of rupees, donated after the devastating earthquake, were not properly recorded and besides selling of these medicines in the markets allegedly by some hospital officials, the expired medicines were stored illegally and not disposed off as per law and were supposed to be re-cycled in new packing and were to be sold in the market.