The Lagos State Medicine Dealers Association on Tuesday urged the government to stop the entry of falsified drugs into the country through various borders.
Mr Innocent Ezennaya, Chairman of the Island Zone, told newsmen during the ongoing enforcement operations carried out by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at the Idumota open drug market.
The week-long operations, according to NAFDAC, are taking place in open drug markets in Aba, Onitsha, and Lagos and aim to rid the country of counterfeit and unregistered drugs.
Ezennaya stated, “Some of these unregistered drugs that are entering this nation come through our borders and airports.
“We have different agencies at the ports, airports, and seaports, yet these drugs still find their way to the market.
“If you don’t block the source where all these things are coming from, you keep fighting as we have been doing, and it keeps giving us headaches.”
Regarding the NAFDAC operations, Ezennaya expressed full support for the initiative, adding that the association was cooperating with the agency during the exercise.
He explained that the association also had an internal task force within the market that sensitised its members and reports any suspicious drugs to NAFDAC.
However, Ezennaya noted that while the crackdown was necessary, it could have significant economic consequences for businesses and the healthcare sector.
“Our association fully supports the ongoing operations carried out by NAFDAC. They regularly come to check our members’ activities.
“This current exercise is different because they are inspecting all the shops one by one. If they find anything that is not up to standard, they seize it.
“If they don’t find anything, they hold onto the shop until the end of the exercise and then reopen the shops that meet all NAFDAC standards.
“We have documentation showing that we have reported many cases to NAFDAC, and their officials can attest to that.”
Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC’s Director-General, addressed the dealers at the market, explaining that the exercise was part of a nationwide operation to combat the distribution of counterfeit medicines.
“The essence of this operation is to ensure that when we take medicines, they work. When a child is given medicine, that child doesn’t die because there is nothing inside that medicine.
“We are also doing this for the sake of our country’s image in the international community,” Adeyeye stated.