Fake drugs
The epidemic of fake and substandard drugs is fast becoming a pandemic with dire consequences for the country’s healthcare.
The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control under Professor Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye has recently raised the alarm on upsurge in fake and substandard drugs into the country.
In the past one month more than 11000 shops warehousing fake and substandard drugs were raided in the southeast and parts of Lagos, with investigations revealing high level of colussion between fake drug manufacturer in India and some unscrupulous and unpatriotic marketers in the country.
In an interview last week, Professor Adeyeye noted that “Mitigation of substandard falsified medicines is in our national action plan. It is part and parcel of what we do every day to ensure that our citizens are safe. It’s part of our safeguard. However, we started seeing an upsurge of big volumes of expired drugs, and substandard falsified medicines, especially for children. And that is part of why we do what we do. However, we started this from the outset. In my first speech, the resumption speech, I mentioned that we’re going to ensure that we eliminate substandard falsified medicines in Nigeria.
When I joined NAFDAC, from our national survey, it is about 13% average. And this is because people deliberately falsify medicines and some get through the port and the borders. We just say enough is enough. It is also part of our global benchmark, it is part of our market control. We have to control our market so that the drugs that our citizens are using are drugs that will make them feel well, not drugs that will kill them.”
It’s high time the authorities come up with stiffer penalties for unscrupulous business men who are ready to mortgage our health care and the lives of Nigerians for dirty gain and lucre.
Experts have over the years been talking about Fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria having many serious health implications, including poisoning, treatment failure, and death.
Patients may be poisoned by toxic substances or incorrect dosages in fake drugs, and medical professionals have stressed treatment failure arising from substandard drugs and the spread of drug-resistant infections. It has also been proved that fake drugs can lead to disease progression
Poor-quality medicines can cause chronic and infectious diseases to progress.
Substandard drugs can lead to death, especially in children and also increased hospital admissions
Other consequences according to experts include increased out-of-pocket expenses, Loss of confidence in the healthcare system, and Increased burden on the healthcare system.
The National Assembly must as a matter of urgency come up with a bill that will provide stiffer penalties for offenders. The Nigerian government must also exploit the diplomatic channels to reach out to Indian government on how to fight the scourge, since the originating country is India.
