Audit finds 80 percent of airport fire department's medications expired

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - An audit finds expired medication on fire trucks in Atlanta. And there are not a few examples, but many.

The problem discovered when the independent auditor did a review, hand counting thousands of individual doses.

The review determined that vials marked with an “X” were stored right alongside controlled substances with current dates.

The auditor told members of the Atlanta City Council Public Safety Panel, the storage protocol makes mistakes possible.

Across Atlanta, the examination found on average 13 percent of the medication on trucks had expired. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the out-of-date narcotics climbed all the way to four out of five, or 80 percent.

Airport officials said that statistic sounds extreme, but patients never came in contact with any expired narcotics.

A fire commander, Joelyon Bundrige, said all the out-of-date medication has been disposed of. He also told council members new protocols have been put in place.