National Policy on Managing and Safe Disposal of Pharmaceutical Waste.

The National Policy on Management and Safe Disposal of Pharmaceutical Waste is a national Policy which aims to set out provisions for the safe disposal of pharmaceutical waste and protection of the environment. The main objectives of the Policy include: to harmonize all national policies on medicines; to reduce the potential storage of medical waste; to ensure that expired medicines not return to the users; to protect the environment while disposing of pharmaceutical waste; to control the use and production of drugs; to protect public health and safety.
The provisions of this Policy should be compiled by any individual or department working with medicines, such as producers, suppliers, sellers, pharmacist, doctors, dentists, nurses, medical staff, public and private sector, academic institutes, NGOs, and charities. The Policy should be implemented for the disposal of all forms of medicine, including medicine used by patients and doctors, the ingredient of medicines, compound medicines, and herbal medicines.
The principles of pharmaceutical waste management follow the general waste management hierarchy, which from the most preferable to the least preferable include: to avoid, to reduce, to reuse, to recycle, to recover, to treat, and to dispose. All staff of medical institutes and pharmacies should be trained about two stages of recycling and reuse of medicines. However, the Policy emphasizes that regarding the protection of the environment and public health, the main focus should be on methods of treating and disposal of pharmaceutical waste. The Ministry of Public Health should provide all necessary guidelines for pharmaceutical waste based on international standards.
The Policy follows a number of fundamental principles: transparency, general approach, guiding and consultancy, detecting new needs, risk management, cooperation with Department of Environment, classification of pharmaceutical waste. The pharmaceutical waste is classified into 6 groups: non-hazardous pharmaceutical waste; hazardous pharmaceutical waste; cytotoxic and cytostatic; controlled medicines waste; bio-hazardous; radioactive.
The National Department of Medicines and Health Products is the authority responsible to issue the disposal authorization for public general medicine. There is a two-level process for pharmaceutical waste disposal: getting official authorization for disposal which affirms that methods of disposal, financial affairs, and management of stock have been calculated correctly, then the physical act of disposal. The Policy requires that 1% of overall expenses on medicines in the country should be dedicated to the safe methods of pharmaceutical waste disposal. In any forms of pharmaceutical waste disposal protection of public health and protection of environment should be considered as the main priorities. The National Department of Medicines and Health Products should monitor the process of pharmaceutical waste disposal. The Department also is responsible to set out standards for pharmaceutical waste disposal, collect data and inspect the responsible authorities, estimate and calculate the number and type of existing pharmaceutical waste in the country. The Policy should be reviewed and revised every three to five years.