The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the Karnataka drugs control department have identified Satva Health Solutions to initiate a pilot project on innovative methods of management of discarded medicines. This according to Satva is an effort for the first time in the country.

According to Lakshman, chairman KSPCB we have initiated the efforts to regulate the disposal of expiry dated drugs and amended Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules 2016 has indicated methods of disposal of expiry drugs.

Now Satva has received a licence from KSPCB to implement this pilot project in three districts: Bengaluru, Chikkaballapura and Kolar.

“Standard Operating Procedure on discarded and cytotoxic waste management under the guidance of Dr Yellappa Reddy & Almithra Patel are ready. We also conducted a trial run which indicated 1,000 pharmacists in Karnataka with 33 per cent registrations and collected about 1000 kg of waste. Now we have tied up with an under-utilized bio-medical waste disposal units to capitalize their capacity efficiently”, said R Shashimohan, managing director & CEO, Satva Health Solutions in his presentation on destruction of discarded medicines & cytotoxic drugs.

We are helping in waste management and Satva teams will visit the pharmacy outlets across the 30 districts in Karnataka to enroll more members. For the discarded and cytotoxic drugs, Satva will pay Rs. 100 a month to the pharmacists, he added.

Globally, Indian pharma ranks 3rd in volume and 13th in terms of value, besides accounting for over 60,000 generic brands. There are over 11,000 pharma manufacturers, 8 lakh pharmacies and 60,000 distributors outlets. The issue of discarding expiry dates is now a serious issue, said Shashimohan.

Now expired and cytotoxic drugs account for 400 tons of annual waste. These are non-refundable material with retailers as it comes in from cut medicine strips and expiry dated drugs. Households too have a collection of such drugs. Now the usual practice is to dispose these drugs into water bodies, drainage and municipal waste. This is harmful because it impacts the environment. Both soil and water are contaminated with this toxic waste. Pharmacists from 1,000 medical shops also pressed for a cost-effective solution to discard these drugs, he said.

Despite the various environment protection related legislations, Satva sprang into action to put in place certified documentation systems for collection of discarded and cytotoxic drugs from pharmacy outlets and homes. It also highlighted to KSPCB on the right approach to dispose expired and cytotoxic drugs using incinerators that operate at temperatures between 900 and 1200 deg. C., equipped with mechanisms to remove toxic by-products.

For the transportation of these drugs, Satva will collect the expired drugs from pharma outlets after verifying the same. The drugs will be transported in compliance with Bio Medical Waste Rules to the disposal unit. The company will also certify all pharmacy outlets which have enrolled with it. The documented database with details of drug, pharma manufacturer and generate area wise reports will be submitted to both KSPCB and State DC department on a periodical basis.