Kozhikode recalls near-expiry medicines after council outcry

Health officials in Kozhikode are scrambling to pull medicines from local clinics after councillors sounded the alarm over stocks nearing their expiration dates—some already past it. The swift recall, triggered just days after the issue erupted in a council meeting, underscores growing unease over medical supply chains in the public health system.

How the alarm was raised

It started quietly, in the chambers of the Kozhikode Corporation council last week. Councillor Saritha Parayeri stood and pointed to a troubling pattern: medicines in local health centers were too close to expiry. Others joined—BJP’s N. Sivaprasad and Congress’s K.C. Shobhitha—each echoing concerns from their wards. Shobhitha didn’t mince words, suggesting a “lobby” might be behind the supply of old stock.

“There was a larger lobby behind the supply of old medicines,” Shobhitha alleged, urging the matter be elevated to the state government.

The official response

Mayor O. Sadasivan didn’t wait. He directed the health wing to investigate, and within days, teams were counting, checking, and collecting. The Corporation doesn’t procure these medicines directly—they’re channeled through the National Health Mission from the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd. and distributed during shortages. Now, the same supplier is taking them back.

What happens next

By Monday, September 7, officials say the recall should be complete. Fresh stocks will replace the old. But the episode leaves a lingering question: how did so many near-expiry medicines end up on the shelves in the first place? For now, the focus is on making it right—one clinic at a time.