CAMEBU informed all Burundi health districts that the amoxicillin syrup 125, lot 1409015 and lot 1409016 must be taken back to CAMEBU’s office. On Tuesday 7 February, Servilien Mpawenimana, CAMEBU Technical Manager, said analyses have shown that it is a bad quality medicine.
Servilien Mpawenimana, CAMEBU Technical Manager “It is not all kinds of amoxicillin which are obsolete, but that one which bears lot 1409015 and lot 1409016”.
The purchasing centre of essential medicines and laboratory equipment in Burundi-CAMEBU said that kind of amoxicillin syrup, an antibiotic drug, powder, and oral solution, which is administered to children, has become obsolete.
“The obsolete amoxicillin is no longer powder, but a kind of lumps which cannot be dissolved into water, the reason why it is no longer effective.”
“It is not all kinds of amoxicillin which are obsolete, but that one which bears lot 1409015 and lot 1409016″, said Servilien Mpawenimana, the technical manager of CAMEBU.
Poor storage of the drug may be one of the causes of its damage before the expiry date.” That medicine was made in 2014 to expire in July 2017. We received the amoxicillin syrup in 2015 when it was still good”, said Mpawenimana.
“The last distribution of the drug took place in December 2016 and then, we noticed that the drug was no longer effective since the end of January, which is why we started to ask the health districts to bring it back”, Mpawenimana said.
One of the workers of Kayanza health district said anonymously that they have identified the problem before CAMEBU’s request. “We saw that the drug was no longer good to use, and then returned it to CAMEBU two weeks ago”, he said.
For those who still have the drug in their stores, CAMEBU said the deadline is 28 February.
To the question whether a child who takes it may have problems, Mpawenimana said this requires more research on that drug.
However, one of the pharmacists at Jabe health Centre said on condition of anonymity that she is not aware of CAMEBU’s call.
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