Inspectors have found over 8,000 expired items of medical equipment and materials at storage depots pertaining to Al-Kamil General Hospital. The discovery, made by officials from Makkah Health Affairs last week, found needles, bandages, and tubes for feeding, breathing and laboratory use to have passed their recommended lifespans by between one and three years. The inspectors were also unable to complete inventories of the hospital's depots due to the “pile up of items and disorganization.” They also found poor standards of cleanliness, air conditioning unit failures, lack of categorization on medication storage shelves, and items scattered across the floor. The hospital's Deputy Director, Mutaz Al-Maymani, said that no action would be taken against persons responsible until the investigating committee at Health Affairs had released its conclusions. In April this year, the Stock Oversight Administration found at least 43,000 vials of expired medicine in various health care centers in Al-Qunfuda. The items included serums and capsules, some of them had expired in 2004, according to a report. The inspection covered 25 health care centers in the region. The same month, an inspection team found that 11 children in the region had been inoculated with expired vaccines in three different health centers. The inspection team also found a lack of hygienic conditions in many centers and that many medical equipment were out of service for lack of maintenance.
