ENUGU – The Director-General of the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, has urged patent medicine dealers in Enugu state to desist from stocking fake and substandard drugs.
Orhii made the call while speaking at a one-day workshop on the Fight against Fake and Substandard and Regulated Products in Enugu on Friday.
He said that the fight against such products was not for the agency alone but was one that needed everyone’s contributions.
The director-general, who was represented by the agency’s Coordinator in Enugu, Mr Ikechukwu Okoye, said that the programme was organised to enlighten patent medicine dealers on the menace of fake drugs and the war against it. “The fight against fake product is not for NAFDAC alone; it is a fight that everyone should contribute to.
“You can contribute by reporting the ones you see, avoiding fake products so that the proprietors will not flourish in the business, buying products from authentic sources and obtaining letter head receipts of purchase. [eap_ad_1] “Fake and counterfeit medicines pose a great threat to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) project as well as to public health,” Orhii said.
The director-general’s representative, who also presented a lecture at the workshop, warned drug dealers in the state against trading in fake and substandard drugs.
In the lecture, Okoye pointed out that NAFDAC had the technology to detect counterfeit medicines.
“NAFDAC has technologies like Trusan device, mobile authentication service, radio frequency identification, and minilabs which detect fake and counterfeit drugs.
“Anybody found with fake and substandard drugs will be prosecuted according to the law of the Federation,” he said.
Okoye also warned the workshop participants against buying products without NAFDAC registration number, date of manufacture, expiry date and other necessary information that indicate the genuineness of the product.
Also speaking, the President of the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers in Enugu, Mr Christopher Okoye, commended NAFDAC for organizing the workshop and promised that members would “play by the rules.”
He charged the participants to take the message to others who did attend “so that Enugu state will become zero-tolerant of fake and counterfeit products”. (NAN)
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