Sidra Medicine, Qatar’s specialist women’s and children’s hospital, has launched an environmentally conscious effort to dispose of narcotic pharmaceutical waste and leftover
medications at its main hospital.
The approach undertaken at Sidra Medicine involves mixing narcotic waste, such as IV fluids, with cat litter or ground coffee. The combination of the cat litter or coffee deactivates the narcotic components making it safer to dispose as regular waste, a statement notes.
Fathea Adheir, director, pharmacy department at Sidra Medicine, said: “As a healthcare provider, it is important that we play a key role in supporting the protection of our ecosystem and this means disposing of drugs and narcotic waste responsibly and without damage to our environment. Mixing narcotic waste with cat litter and coffee grounds has become the norm in a lot of other countries. We are pleased that our recommendation to do the same at our hospital, was endorsed by the Ministry of Public Health.
“We also encourage the public not to store unneeded or expired prescription drugs. They should dispose of these drugs safely – to avoid abuse, accidental ingestion by children or pets or damage to the environment. It is recommended to consider the same disposal method of mixing the drugs with cat litter or ground coffee.”
It is recommended to follow the below steps to dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs at home:
* Take the prescription drugs out of the original containers.
*Remove or conceal personal information and the prescription number from the empty medicine container by covering it with a permanent marker, duct tape or by scratching it off.
* Crush solid medicine or dissolve liquid medication in water before mixing it with cat litter or ground coffee.
* Put the mixture in a disposable
container with a lid or in a sealable bag.
* Place the sealed container with the denatured drug mixture and the empty drug containers in the trash.
Source:gulf-times.com
