Government Clinic Prescribing Expired HIV Drugs

Patients at the Chowa Clinic in Central Province are reportedly being prescribed expired antiretroviral (ARV) drugs used to treat HIV. 

According to investigations by Millennium Radio, patients at the government-run facility were given doses of Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Lamivudine Efavirenz - brand name AVONZA - which expired in October 2020. 

One patient received the expired medication as recently as 22nd January 2021. 

Several patients have complained of experiencing prolonged diarrhoea after taking the expired ARV medication. 

The news comes after the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) received heavy criticism this week for allowing whole warehouses of medicine to expire while Zambia is in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

Upon discovering a cache of expired drugs at a ZAMMSA warehouse in Lusaka earlier this week, Health Minister Jonas Chanda described the development as ‘regrettable’ and ordered for the drugs to be destroyed rather than ending up on the black market.