/ 22 October 2007

Health Dept recalls more condoms

The Department of Health is recalling a second consignment of defective condoms, this time from Kohrs Medical, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Pretoria on Monday.

”At least five batches belonging to Kohrs Medical were sampled, and failed an air-burst test … Based on this, the department is recalling the product supplied by Kohrs,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.

This is the second recall of condoms within two months following the last recall of condoms produced by Zalatex — after it was found that an official from the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) was bribed to approve condoms that did not meet standards.

Tshabalala-Msimang said there was no information that suggested collusion between Kohrs and any officials at the SABS.

Zalatax and Kohrs are two of the seven private companies awarded tenders to support free condom distribution in the country.

Kohrs Medical has so far supplied the department with five million condoms. One million of these are already under quarantine and the other four million are in distribution.

Exact figures as to how many condoms were already in the public domain could not be given.

”The department is appealing for the public and all partners involved in the distribution to assist with the recall of any condoms with the code 6809/MED/,” she said.

Two weeks ago, about 100 000 unused condoms were found scattered over a large area in the Inanda area north of Durban.

The Health Department has since found out that the condoms were produced by Kohrs.

The matter is currently under police investigation.

CEO of SABS Previn Semnarayan said extensive controls and verifications have been implemented throughout testing of the condoms and that more would be done.

”We will be employing zero tolerance when it comes to testing; we have rigorously implemented our auditing and sampling. Laboratory wise, we have added further verification steps and put in place systems to protect our data,” he said, adding that staff were well qualified to test products thoroughly.

Tshabalala-Msimang said the two incidents involving Zalatex and Kohrs should not be allowed to impact negatively on the progress made in promoting condom use in the country.

The department, as it did with Zalatex, would no longer procure any stock from Kohrs, she said.

About five million condoms from Zalatex have already been recalled, with seven million under quarantine at the company’s warehouse.

Tshabalala-Msimang urged the media to not create a state of fear among the public.

”It’s not about how many condoms have gone out, but about how many have been recalled,” she said. — Sapa