Piles of expired drugs have been discovered abandoned alongside roads and nearby water streams in Busamaga, Mbale district, Eastern Uganda.
According to Dr Wanyaye John Baptist, Mbale district health officer, a team from his office acted on a tip-off that drugs had been wrongly disposed of by unknown people.
Most of the drugs found are antibiotics that expired in 2008, which were used to treat a number of diseases including coughs and sexuality transmitted infections.
Dr Wanyaye said expired drugs are dangerous to human health, and may also contaminate the water and destroyed the environment. He called upon the general public to be on the lookout for any person who appears to have the intention of selling expired drugs.
Dr Wanyaye says his office is not aware of which individual, pharmacy or drug shop may have been involved in disposing the expired drugs, adding that an investigation into the incident is now underway.
Madui Ayub, the district health inspector in Mbale who also doubles as the focal person for supervising clinics, health centers and hospitals in Mbale, says whoever dumped the drugs may have been trying to avoid paying disposal charges to the Uganda Drug Authority, which amount to over 5 millions Uganda shillings (approximately 1,780 $dollars).
Madui added that he suspects whoever disposed of the drugs to come from a pharmacy, drug shop or clinic within Mbale town. He added that his office and that of the district health office are in the process of going through all the records of people licensed to deal drugs in town in order to identify the culprits.
A resident walking along Mbale resort road added that the drugs have been seen in different spots over the last four days.