The OECS Secretariat is urging member states to carefully consider donations offered to them as hurricane or disaster relief supplies.  This comes as the OECS and wider CARICOM Countries experience another Atlantic hurricane season. Managing Director of the OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Service, Francis Burnett says there are many problems associated with donated medical supplies after they arrive in the receiving country. Burnett notes that there have been significant cases where most medicines sent by well intended individuals or donor agencies tend to be more of a burden than a benefit. From time to time the OECS Secretariat has been emphasizing the importance of reviewing a national donations policy to ensure that donated medicines are really what the receiving country needs:“Most medicines sent by well intended individuals or donor agencies tend to be a burden rather than a benefit. Most medicines are not on our essential drugs list.

Most medicines donated by agencies tend to be expired. A lot of valuable staff time is consumed to discard medicines which are not on the essential drugs list of the country. Some tend to be left over products from patients’ bed-side in hospitals. Sometimes they tend to be in foreign language. Sometimes they are not invoiced properly. There are a myriad of problems associated with donated goods after a natural disaster and so we encourage the ministry to adopt a donated goods policy. The criteria for such medicines include that they should have adequate shelf life and they should be in the English language. After the experiences of Hurricanes in Montserrat and Grenada, 80 to 90 % of such medicines are totally useless and present a huge burden on our already overworked system in the aftermath of a hurricane.”

Mr. Burnett adds that member countries are being further encouraged to implement a system that ensures all donated goods comply with the OECS PPS Donated Goods Policy. He emphasized that donated goods should be requested and monitored by the country in need the and not left to the discretion of the donor. Burnett recalls a situation where sexual performance enhancing drugs were shipped to a particular country after a hurricane:“Often donors will give items to offload unwanted and unnecessary items. In one case which I think was in Jamaica several cartons of “Viagra” were shipped to the country after a hurricane. We need to get the most essential drugs for the country. Sometimes the country does not even have the physical capacity to stock excess items.”-Burnett 

Meanwhile the OECS Secretariat is progressing towards resuming full operations with most staff returning to work on a phased basis as of Monday August 27th 2007

This as the OECS Secretariat’s Headquarters in St. Lucia continues its rehabilitation following the passage of Hurricane Dean on Friday August 18th 2007