The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised the alarm over the influx of counterfeit drugs from Onitsha to Ebonyi.
Mr Richard Anichukwu, Head of NAFDAC in Ebonyi, said in Abakaliki that the indication arose from the recent ‘True Test Scan’ conducted on drugs by the agency in the state.
“Ebonyi is one of the states in the country where the true scan machine has been introduced by the management to detect counterfeit drugs instantly.
“It is a hand-held device that is easy to operate and will help in generally checking the phenomenon of counterfeit drugs in the state,” he said.
Anichukwu noted that drug dealers, whose wares failed the true test were made to produce their receipts and it was discovered that the drugs were procured from Onitsha.
“We have reported the matter to our office in Onitsha and investigations have commenced to ascertain the sources of the drugs to check the unscrupulous activities of the dealers.”
He said that NAFDAC was worried over the duplication of registration numbers given to products in the state by various companies.
“These products are registered by companies which are mainly based outside the country and given the same identity, thereby bringing confusion into the system,” he said
He noted that the agency had held series of meetings with relevant stakeholders in the state, especially those in the rural areas on ways of checking the menace of drug adulteration.
“We met with community pharmacists, laboratory technicians, patent medicine dealers among others, and their high level of cooperation has made us record significant progress in our duty.
“They informed us of the activities of some Cameroonians who operate illegal clinics and administer unregistered drugs on patients. The culprits have since been arrested as our legal unit is at present handling their prosecution,” he said.