Stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry, according to a Daily Graphic report, have met in Accra to deliberate on the protection of the citizens against fake and substandard drugs.
The two-day technical meeting, which began on Wednesday this week, was organised by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to allow all actors in the sector to discuss the nation’s Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy (PTS).
This is a document that enables the authority to track and trace the movement of pharmaceutical products throughout the supply chain by verifying the history, location, manufacturer or application of drugs among others, by means of documented identification, the Graphic reported.
The strategy was launched in December last year, and spans 2023 to 2028.It aims to protect consumers from exposure to drugs that may be counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or in any way harmful.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Delese Mimi Darko, is quoted as saying at the meeting that her outfit, in the past years, had expended a lot of resources in combating substandard medical products in Ghana.
She said in spite of those efforts, the war on such medical products was far from over, since their production and trafficking had become a multi-million dollar business.
“The lure of huge profits from this venture has enabled all manner of unscrupulous persons into this business. No doubt the implementation of traceability of medical products will enable the FDA to rid the country off or minimise the incidence of SF medical products on Ghana’s market,” Mrs. Darko stressed.
Indeed, the issue of fake drugs is a serious matter we must collectively address as a nation. As Delese Mimi Darko noted, the desire to make money has blinded people to throw caution to the winds and selling fake drugs to fellow human beings, which they know are seriously harmful and dangerous.
Apparently, because of the Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy policy the FDA is pursuing, the circulation of the fake drugs in the cities appears minimal. However, the same cannot be said when it comes to the rural areas. Because, majority of the people living in these areas cannot read and write, so the fake drugs are sold to them by these unscrupulous dealers.
To help nip this canker in the bud, The Chronicle suggests that the FDA embarks on serious campaigns in the rural areas to educate our mothers and fathers about the need to get lettered people to read instructions on drugs that they purchase to cure their ailments. The FDA should also take it upon itself to periodically carry out inspections of drugs being sold in the various chemical shops in the rural areas, to ascertain whether they are genuine or fake.
Again, since National Security personnel are all over the country, the FDA could train them and their counterparts from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service on how to detect some of these fake drugs. The trained personnel will, in turn, go round and check if the chemical shops are stocked with the right drugs.
We believe when this is done, it will help to reduce the circulation of the fake drugs in the rural areas in particular, to ensure the safety of our people. As for the urban centres, though we admit the FDA does not have the required staff, it is still not a justification for them to sit down and be overwhelmed with fake drugs in our pharmacies. As a state institution, they have the duty to ensure the safety of Ghanaians no matter the challenges facing them.
