1.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance on the standard process of identifying, tracking
and checking the expiry of medicine, medical consumables and chemicals in Taba Specialist
Medical Center.

2. POLICY STATEMENT:

2.1. Dental Assistant shall ensure timely and regular checking of expiry of medicine,
medical consumables and chemicals in the stores and Center and shall be recorded.
2.2. Dental Assistant shall monitor the items according to recommended schedule in
Section 4.1.
2.3. Items shall be checked according to set criteria in Section 4.4.
2.4. Expiry of items shall be monitored periodically for proper resource utilization such as
First in First out (FIFO) consumption, re-allocation according to requirements before it
reaches its expiry date and for return or replacement by the supplier.

3. APPLICABILITY:

Dental assistant staff in Taba Specialist Medical Center

4. PROCEDURE:

4.1 The expiry of the mentioned items shall be checked by the Dental Assistant on a periodic
basis according to the nature of items as follows:

4.1.1 Medication – weekly

4.2 Expiry of the products shall be recorded in the monitoring chart and signed after each
checking.

4.3 All products shall be stored as specified by the manufacturer to maintain good stability of
the products which may be affected by environmental conditions. Expiry of items is
affected by the storage condition.

4.4 Items shall be checked for the expiry date based on the following criteria:

4.4.1 The expiry date of the product may be written as: dd/mm/yy or mm/yy. If the
expiry is written as: dd/mm/yy, the product is considered expired on that specified
date. But if the expiry date is written as: mm/yy, the product shall expire on the
last day of the specified month.

Page 1 of 4
 4.4.2 If a medicine is dispensed from a bulk pack, the expiry date of the medicine must
be written on the label in addition to the name of the medicine and lot number.

4.4.3 All opened multiple-use medications will be labelled for opened and discard
date. Discard date will be based on the manufacturer’s instructions. Please refer to
the Appendix 1 for recommended discard date of opened medications.

4.4.4 Any medicine with unknown or unclear expiry date shall be treated as expired
medicine and properly discarded.

4.4.5 Consumables without expiry date maybe checked for other criteria of expiry such
as integrity of packaging, changes in physical appearance, odour and storage
condition.
4.4.5.1 Integrity of packaging shall be inspected for loose or incomplete seals,
tears and deformities in packs.
4.4.5.2 Changes in physical appearance in form, color, and turbidity, etc.
whichever are applicable e.g. turbid IV fluids, discolored ointments shall
be noted.
4.4.5.3 Observe the odor for any unusual smell in the product.

4.5 All medications that are about to expire and items must be notify the Medical Director
for replacement at least three months before the expiry date.

4.6 All expired items must be collected, labelled clearly as expired items, kept in a yellow
bag, for disposal.

4.7 The expired medication shall be disposed in medical waste.

5. DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS:

EXPIRY DATE It is the date before which the quality of a medicine or medical
products remains acceptable for its intended use. It is predicted from
stability tests under general / normal storage conditions or by
accelerated stability testing under extreme conditions.
MEDICAL CONSUMABLE Any product other than medicine which is intended to be used for
medical purpose ex. diagnostic kits, biological products, syringes
CHEMICAL Includes raw materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients used in
compounding

6. APPENDIX:

Page 2 of 4
Expiry List for Opened Medications (whichever is applicable)
TYPE DETAILS EXPIRY DATE

Oral Liquids Bulk bottles not requiring 3 months after opening with
reconstitution proper storage conditions
Bulk bottles requiring reconstitution As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
Injectable Ampoules Discard remainder immediately
after use
Single dose vials (preservative free) Discard remainder immediately
after use
Multiple dose vials (with 30 days after opening with proper
Preservative) storage conditions
Insulins 30 days after opening with proper
storage conditions
Topicals Creams, ointments, Lotions, pastes 3 months after opening with
proper storage conditions
Ophthalmics Drops and ointments with 30 days after opening with proper
preservative storage conditions
Drops and ointments without Discard remainder immediately
preservative after use
Inhalers Inhaled medical devices as Turbo 3 months after opening with
halers, MDI, Evohalers proper storage conditions
Salbutamol Solution for nebulization 30 days after opening with proper
storage conditions
Nitroglycerin Sublingual tablets 8 weeks after opening with proper
(Angised) storage conditions
Sublingual spray 3 months after opening with
proper storage conditions
Composan LCM Dental filling Materials 6 months with proper storage
conditions
Impression Putty, activators, light body As per manufacturer’s
materials recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions
Glass Ionemer Cementation and filling materials As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions
Formocresol Solution for root canal 3 years in un opened jar with
proper storage condition
Composite Bond Bonding agent for composite 6 months with proper storage
restoration condition.

Page 3 of 4
 Base-it Light cured cavity liner 6 months with proper storage
condition.
Antipulp For pulp devitalisation 6 months with proper storage
condition.
CALCIPAST Forte For root canal filling As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions
AH26 As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions
Coltosol Temporary filling As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions
Endo Prep Cream As per manufacturer’s
recommendations for expiry date
with proper storage conditions

7. CROSS REFERENCES:

7.1 DOH Standard for Managing The Supply and Safe Use of medications in licensed Healthcare
Facilities (DOH/MSSM/SD/0.9), 2015
7.2 DOH Policy on the Expiry Date of Drugs and Medical Products (PPR/HCP/P0003/07), 2007

8. APPROVALS:

Name Position Signature

Prepared by:

Approved by:

Page 4 of 4