By Omar Bah & Tabora Bojang
The presidential task force constituted to look into the mass death of children due to Acute Kidney Injury, has outlined serious lapses and lack of proper training of pharmacy staff.
In its report submitted to the president last month, the Task Force said the AK1 deaths are attributable to medicines contaminated with Diethylene glycol (DEG) and Ethylene glycol (EG) which are solvents used in industrial products such as brake fluids.
According to the report, the contaminated products were mostly obtained over the counter without medical consultation dispensed at pharmacy outlets while the active ingredients of the medicines have no proven benefit for the indications for which they were prescribed.
“Poly-pharmacy (use of several medicines) was common with several products having the same active ingredients, which is unnecessary, and increases risk of adverse effects or even poisoning. Education of the public is particularly important to change parents’ demand for inappropriate prescribing and dispensing of medicines,” the report stated.
The committee also recommended for pharmacovigilance to be strengthened and healthcare professionals to be educated about pharmacovigilance and processes to follow.
It also calls for the establishment of a poison information center to help in preventing, diagnosing and treating acute poisonings, particularly in young children.
The committee assessed 69 cases while 13 other cases were not assessed. This is because 3 cases did not meet the AKI case definition while 10 cases had insufficient data.
The ministry of health could not be reached for comments.
