Starting next year, pharmacies in our country will be provided by the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency with special bins for collecting expired medicines, including mercury thermometers. Finally, they will be destroyed by environmentally friendly methods.
The authorities resorted to this method to put an end to the practice of haphazardly throwing away old dishes. According to the director of the Medicines Agency, Zinaida Bezverhni, this harms both the environment and people's health, because antibiotics or cytostatic drugs contaminate the soil and water.
"There will be special boxes or crates, in which patients will be able to bring those unused medicines to their homes, which represent a source of increased risk for children and the elderly. Later, after they are filled, these boxes, packages with unused medicines will be transported to an authorized medicine warehouse and will be destroyed by incineration", said Zinaida Bezverhni.
Boxes for expired medicines will be placed in all pharmacies, Zinaida Bezverhni emphasized. "We understand perfectly that there are additional expenses for pharmacies, and that's why we took a step to meet them. We have developed these boxes and will distribute them free of charge to pharmacies. Therefore, we will involve all pharmacies. The only thing that the pharmacy will be responsible for is the single-use bag and its transport with all the medicines", she added.
For the success of this project, in parallel, a campaign will be initiated to inform the population about the risks posed by old medicines, but also about the correct way of collecting them.
