Alberta reaches agreement to donate unused children's pain and fever medication
A bottle of Parol Suspension, produced by Turkish Atabay Pharmaceuticals, is shown on Monday, March 20, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Brandon Lynch).
Alberta Health Services says it has reached an agreement to donate the unused supply of imported children's pain and fever medication to Health International Partners of Canada.
In an email to CTV News Edmonton, spokesperson Kristi Bland said the charity would distribute the medicine among vulnerable communities worldwide.
'Preliminary shipments of products have started to leave Alberta, and additional shipments will happen in the coming months,' Bland wrote.
'We are unable to provide information about when the medicine would arrive in the destination countries, given this would be under the responsibility of the partner organization handling the logistics and may vary depending on the destination country.'
The province has been sitting on 1.4 million bottles of the medication after health officials determined in 2023 that it posed serious health risks when given to babies.
Alberta paid $70 million to MHCare Medical in 2022 for the medication when children's pain medication was in short supply countrywide.
Only about 30 per cent of the medication ever arrived in Alberta, and the company that provided it is now embroiled in a provincial procurement scandal.
Fired AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos alleges in a lawsuit that there was favouritism in contracting.
Both MHCare and its founder, Sam Mraiche, were named in the suit.
With files from CTV News Calgary's Timm Bruch and The Canadian Press
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