The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii has identified fake and counterfeit drugs as one of the major factors militating against the realization of the United Nation Millennium Development Goals MDGs, 4, 5, and 6 which advocate for reduction in maternal health, combating HIV/AIDs, Malaria and other diseases.
His words, “Fake and counterfeit medicines pose a great threat to the attainment of these goals as well as the overall public health. They cause several health problems including treatment failure organs and system failure, economic loss, sickness and death.”
The Director-General who made this know while addressing members of the Delta State chapter of the National Association of Patent Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED) through his representative and NAFDAC co-ordinator in the Delta State, Ms. Esther Aburime in a seminar tagged, “Fight Against Fake and Substandard Regulated Products A fight for All,” organized by Christabel International in conjunction with NAFDAC in Asaba and Ughelli called on NAPPMED to contribute to the fight against fake regulated products by alerting NAFDAC.
“You can contribute by reporting the ones you see. Avoiding fake products so that the perpetrators will not flourish in the business and buying products from the authenticated sources and obtaining letter headed receipts of purchase,” he said.
According to him NAFDAC/WHO/DFID survey in 2006 showed that the incidence of counterfeit medicines has reduced from 48% in 2001 to 16% in 2006, and acknowledged NAFDAC as the foremost regulatory agency in the deployment of cutting age-technologies in combating counterfeit medicines, such as truscan, Mobile Authentication Services (MAS), Radio Frequency Identification Service (RFID) minilabs: The German Pharma Fund (GPHF). He warned them against selling of expired drugs to the public.
The facilitator of the programme, Christabel Okoye enjoined NAPPMED members to assist NAFDAC to fight against fake drugs. ###
