Updated | Nationalist Party lambasts expired Tamiflu revelations as 'shocking'

Shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg took the government to task in the wake of revelations that at least three patients were given expired Tamiflu medication at Mater Dei.

Buttigieg told a press conference that the news was "shocking" and served to highlight how "the corrupt clique that runs the country is detached from everyday realities."

"We are talking here about ITU patients, people who were fighting for their lives," she said. "It is shocking that they were given expired medicine and it casts doubt on how the government treats and dignifies patients in their most vulnerable moments."

Health minister Chris Fearne has ordered an internal inquiry to determine whether any malpractice had occurred, but said that it is accepted general practice in healthcare to use reserve stock in the case of a shortfall in ready supply, in cases of emergencies.

"The government's policy is to not use expired medicine, but there have been cases around the world, including in Malta, where expired medicine was used with no detriment to patients' health."

He had said that Mater Dei's pharmacy had ordered a large stock of Tamiflu in 2009, in the wake of fears over a swine flu epidemic, and that it now has an unused stock worth around €600,000. Therefore patients who require Tamiflu are now being administered medicine from that unused stock.

However, Buttigieg questioned why Fearne ordered an inquiry in the first place if issuing expired Tamiflu was in fact common practice, and suggested that the medicine could have been expired for much longer than it was supposed to be or else stored in the wrong conditions. She also warned that expired medicines don't light up on the hospital's system for out-of-stock medicines, and questioned whether the current lack of out-of-stock medicines was the result of the usage of expired ones on patients.

"The fact that Fearne ordered an inquiry is a sign that something wasn't right here," she said, while insisting that the minister must shoulder political responsibility as Mater Dei falls under his watch.

‘PN attacking healthcare professionals’ - Fearne

Chris Fearne in a statement accused Buttigieg of attacking the healthcare professionals who had decided to treat patients with expired Tamiflu.

“The Opposition expects that it, and not medical consultants, should get to take clinical decisions at Mater Dei,” Fearne said.

He also dismissed Buttigieg’s suggestion that the shortage of out-of-stock medicines was due to the stockpiling of expired medicines at Mater Dei, arguing that Tamiflu is not on the Government Formulary List.

“The Opposition has no credibility when it comes to talking about medicines that are out of stock,” he said, recounting how over 690 medicines were out of stock at one point in 2009.