ZUL-QA’ADAH 21 1430 A.H.
MONDAY NOVEMBER . 9 2009.
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NAFDAC, LGs and the merchants of death
By Dr. Hussaini Tukur
Ajibola Ajide is a young industrious man, full of energy, committed and dedicated to change his life for the better and that of the younger ones in his community. At the age of 25, he was already an expert in information technology and has been engaged in computer hardware repairs and software development and services.
Armed with this expertise, Ajide began to earn a living in Lagos, attracting young ones from his Oke Ogun community of Oyo state, whom he trained, with many already earning a living and supporting their families back in the villages.
Unfortunately, Ajide’s hopes and dreams for a better future was cut short due to the terrible effects of an adulterated, fake, substandard, counterfeited and unwholesome eye drop. Ajide had developed an eyesore and sought a medical assistance from an ophthalmist, who diagnosed him and prescribed the necessary drugs.
But a fake eye drop purchased in a patent chemist store cost Ajide his two eyes. One eye after the other, in just a week, Ajide has gone blind. One could not imagine the niche Ajide could have created for himself and the invaluable service he could have rendered to humanity, with his acquired expertise, experience and dedication to his professional calling.
For Akpaye, a volcaniser was lucky that he survived his ordeal, having lost one of his kidneys to a fake malaria drug purchased from an illiterate drug hawker in a weekly village market in his Abocho town of Kogi state. Akpaye has recovered after months of suffering in hospital, but lives today with the debilitating effects of fake drug, perhaps for the rest of his life.
The same suffering and agony of Ajide and Akpaye are today being relived by many parent-fathers and mother- victims of My Picking teething syrup who lost their children, precious gifts from the Almighty. They were all victims of "merchants of death" who parade our streets as drug dealers and distributors, whose killing and maiming machines are supported by illiterate drug hawkers in our towns and villages.
It was because of the devastating effects of the nefarious activities of the death merchants that the new Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii decided to give new vigour and impetus to the fight against counterfeited, substandard and fake drugs the deserved priority.
Being with a pharmacist and a lawyer specialized in drugs laws practice and enforcement, he knew the implication of fake drug prevalence in the society and decided to face the task through a collaborative approach. He organized the first conference by NAFDAC with the 774 local government chairmen in order to sensitize and enlist them in the fight against the distribution, sale and consumption of fake drugs in their respective domains.
The conference was held on September 24, 2009 in which Dr. Orhii enlisted the support and cooperation of the chairmen in the fight against the menace of fake drugs, especially at the grassroots. The chairmen and their councils responded positively from the turn out at the conference. And it is hoped that the conference will serve as the beginning of a major concerted effort by all stakeholders to deal with the monster.
This is because majority of Nigerians live in rural areas and majority of them are illiterate and unenlightened about modern medicine, especially drugs and their effects. And for this reason dealers and distributors of such drugs find our rural areas and rural dwellers as fertile ground in deploying their killing machines.
It has been easier for manufacturers and distributors of fake drugs in developing countries to spread their evil deeds in rural areas in alliance with unregistered outlets, quacks and patent stores. Unless majority of Nigerians are sensitized on the need to patronize genuine medicines and professional health workers, the devilish business will continue to kill on daily basis and rip people of billions of dollars on daily basis.
Take for instance, a fake drug manufacturer process of distributing drugs. His drugs have to go to places, but through unregistered dispenser, who are ignorant of the ways and means of handling the products, with willing tools consisting of equally ignorant hawkers, who gradually and painfully diagnose ignorant patients like them and prescribe unknown medicine to unknown diseases with unimaginable consequences to the society.
At every level of the drug exchange process, the manufacturers, distributors and the dealers are always better off, while the poor hawker and his community are ripped off and left to suffer from dare consequences.
Therefore enlisting the support of the local government chairmen is critical as the survival of a healthy society.
Even those handling genuine drugs in rural areas need to be mobilized to serve as vanguard in the prevention of the usage and distribution of unwholesome medicines and food. They also need to be sensitized as to the process and procedures of handling the genuine drugs in order to keep their potency intact till they reach the end user. It is the only way in which drugs could be effective and cure the ailment intended for.
For a genuine drug to be effective in curing any disease, all the rules and regulations governing its handling right through transportation, distribution, storage, dispensing, prescription and usage must be complied with. Any level of non-compliance will compromise the potency of the drug, which could cause serious side effects on the end users.
Imagine two drug hawkers, one handling genuine products, with the other handling fake ones; both ignorant of the rules in handling drugs, ignorant of the drugs usage and the illnesses they can cure, both are ignorant physicians of sort, diagnosing ignorant patients, prescribing unknown medicines. What could be imagined as the consequences of their actions?
This is no doubt the glaring reality in our communities across the country. It is a serious challenge to our governments at the local levels and other stakeholders.
The most important and vital challenge is expected from the political leadership-local government chairmen and their councillors. Because, they are elected officials with executive powers, they can easily engender support for the campaign against fake drug and unwholesome products. They could also create awareness in their various communities.
The chairmen need to establish enlightment units at their local government headquarters with necessary facilities such as the public address system and volunteer town criers to disseminate information and educate people on the need to avoid fake drugs.
The setting up of drug abuse and fake drug information desk by local government is undoubtedly a fulfillment of fiscal responsibility of the grassroots governments under the nation’s federal system.
The units could educate people on the need to patronize qualified health personnel in case they have medical problems and purchase their prescribed drugs in registered outlets. And when there is an adverse effect on the use of some of the drugs they could report the matter and the source of the drugs to the appropriate authorities. In this way the community could be safer from fake products and their consequences.
Local government chairmen have no reason than to lend their helping hands in saving the society of the merchants of death. This is because NAFDAC has been discharging its mandate since its establishment 16 years ago, especially with the enlisting of the chairmen in the great task ahead.
A recent survey on fake and unwholesome products prevalence in the market indicates that the level has reduced. It also shows that people are becoming aware of the urgent need of being their brothers’ keepers in assisting the agency and other stakeholders to deal with the menace of fake drugs.
Therefore, in this respect and many others, local councils and their chairmen have a vital role to play in ridding the society of fake drugs and other unwholesome food products. The chairmen and their councillors are capable of mobilizing traditional rulers, opinion leaders, community leaders, non-governmental and community based organizations to play their roles in fighting the spread and distribution of fake drugs as well as drug abuse.
This category of people assists in mobilizing the society at the grassroots to avoid patronizing unregistered drug outlets and unprofessional and unqualified health personnel as well as report them to the appropriate authorities whenever they are found operating. It is imperative to mobilize everyone in this task of ridding the society of fake drugs and their merchants as complacency by stakeholders always comes with a great price that does no one any good.
The state governments in collaboration with NAFDAC, local governments and other stakeholders in the health sector must ensure that only those registered outlets for drugs should be allowed to operate. This can only be assured through enforcement of existing laws on pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food as well as monitoring the enforcement and the compliance not only by the agencies responsible but by the society as a whole.
A partnership for the benefit of the society such as this will go along way in stemming the tide of proliferation and distribution of fake drugs, adulterated food items and control drug abuse in the society. The initiative of Dr. Paul Orhii is worth commending as it will go along way in mobilizing the nation against fake drugs, its distributors and their outlets to make the society safer.
Dr.Tukur is an Abuja based journalist and is reachable at hthassan2004@yahoo.com
