CSOs hail NAFDAC on new fake drug detection service

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC ), has been commended for its on the spot fake drug detection mechanism. The service called, TRUSCAN enables consumers to determine authenticity of drug purchased right from the store before consuming it.

The coalition of civil societies under the aegis of Civil Society Organisations for Transparency in Governance lauded NAFDAC in a communique issued in Abuja by Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi and Barr. Usman Jubril, after the coalition’s consultative assembly of civil society groups held in Abuja.

Highlighting the agency’s achievements, the coalition hailed the introduction of Mobile Authentication Service MAS, WHO pre-qualification for four Nigerian pharmaceutical companies that enable them to sell their products globally. They said under the leadership of Dr. Paul Orhii, NAFDAC has initiated the review of its law to make them more stringent so as to deter counterfeiters (life jail term and confiscation of assets on conviction), while the water re-certification exercise is a coordinated war against unregistered and poorly packaged water using a mobile laboratory to test water on factory premises. The communique said in the last two years, NAFDAC has seized and destroyed fake drugs and other counterfeit products running into billions of naira at Kano, Onitsha, Enugu, Osun, Abuja and Lagos states.

The communique stated that “as a seasoned and globally certified health expert, Dr Orhii has proven that pharmaceutical products, in view of their unique nature ,are not to be ubiquitously sold and exhibited consequent upon which the regional Mega Drug Distribution Centers (MDDCs) and States Drug Distribution Centers (SDDCs) were conceptualized for adoption and subsequent implementation nationwide”.

“NAFDAC has also initiated the compulsory food fortification campaign to combat dangers of hidden hunger. Several counterfeiters have been arrested and trials are ongoing in the courts. From several innovations introduced by Dr.Orhii, NAFDAC now belongs to the elite group of the top 18 regulatory agencies in the world”. It read in part.