The Ministry of Health’s pharmaceutical warehouses suffered significant losses following severe weather conditions in Nicosia on Clean Monday morning, with vast quantities of medications destroyed by the downpour.
The torrential rain and hailstorm breached the warehouse roofs, flooding the premises and causing extensive damage to thousands of medication packages.
The incident prompted relocation to safeguard remaining supplies from water damage, according to ministry sources.
Since the incident, the Ministry of Health has mobilised its departments to assess the extent of the damage and expedite replenishment procedures for the destroyed stocks. Concerns have arisen regarding potential shortages of medications in the coming period.
An emergency committee comprising all relevant departments has been convened to oversee the recovery efforts.
The committee is tasked with conducting thorough checks, documenting the contents of damaged packages, and coordinating with suppliers to replace the unusable medications.
While efforts were made to contain information regarding the incident, media outlets have obtained details and images, shedding light on the situation.
The financial implications of this disaster are yet to be quantified, but the pharmaceutical stocks housed in the warehouses were valued in the tens of millions of euros, philenews reported.
Specialised medications, including those administered through the Ministry of Health’s Nominal Requests Committee and state pharmacies under the General Healthcare System (GHS), were among the affected supplies.
Efforts are underway to ensure continuous replenishment to prevent any disruptions in patient care.
Moreover, the Ministry of Health had previously initiated procedures to secure alternative storage facilities for medications, recognising the inadequacy of the current infrastructure.
