Abstract
A simple, low-cost, accurate thin-layer chromatography (TLC) method has been used to establish the first drug quality screening laboratory in Swaziland. For this purpose, office space at the central medical stores was first converted into a simple laboratory. Basic equipment, supplies, and materials were purchased, existing manpower was trained to perform accurately the TLC procedure, and a system was established for the qualitative/quantitative screening of selected drugs purchased by the Ministry of Health prior to their distribution to user facilities. The TLC method described can be used to set up similar low-cost, drug quality screening laboratories in other developing countries where analytical chemistry expertise is lacking, resources are scarce, and sophisticated analytical laboratories to assess drug quality are not available.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Alubo S. O. Debt crisis, health and health services in Africa. Soc Sci Med. 1990;31(6):639–648. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90245-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Flinn P. E., Juhl Y. H., Layloff T. P. A simple, inexpensive thin-layer chromatography method for the analysis of theophylline tablets. Bull World Health Organ. 1989;67(5):555–559. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Land T. Combating counterfeit drugs. Nature. 1992 Jan 16;355(6357):192–192. doi: 10.1038/355192a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]