More than 3,000 morphine injections have expire unused at a major government-run hospital in Karachi.
A total of 3,191 injections expired at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) on 30 December 2025, after remaining unused in the hospital’s stock.
The hospital administration has denied any financial loss to the public treasury, saying the supplier will replace the expired injections at no additional cost once the required legal procedures have been completed.
According to official records, pharmacist Talha Mehboob Khan informed Assistant Manager of Pharmacy Services Saima Saleem in a letter dated 24 December 2025 that 3,191 injections were being held in the hospital’s narcotics cabinet, just six days before their expiry date.
NICVD used 2,809 morphine injections between October 2023 and November 2025, while the remaining 3,191: nearly 53% of the total stock of 6,000, went unused, the records show.
The letter also stated that the injections were stored in the designated narcotics cabinet and that its key had been handed over to the authorised custodian.
NICVD spokesperson Abdul Naseer said morphine was a controlled narcotic drug, and its procurement, transportation, storage, use and return were subject to strict legal requirements.
He said the injections were supplied through imported shipments and could not be returned in the same way as ordinary medicines.
Their return required inspection and verification by a drug inspector, along with the completion of other legal formalities.
Once the process was complete, the supplier would replace the expired stock with fresh injections at no additional cost to the hospital, he added.
The administration said NICVD maintained an inventory management system and stock registers to monitor the receipt, storage, distribution and use of medicines.
It added that additional oversight measures were in place for controlled drugs.
The expiry of more than half the recorded stock raises questions about medicine inventory management and the monitoring of expiry dates at the hospital.
