The National Agen­cy for Food, 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 the 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.

 

According to the group, they had X-rayed the progress in the health sector as ne­cessitated by the Paul Orhii-led NAFDAC and deemed it fit to distin­guish him in the ranks of administrators in the nation to serve as an ex­ample to others and fur­ther encourage him to do more.

 

Highlighting the agency’s achievements, the coaliton hailed the introduction of Mobile Authentication Service, MAS, WHO pre-qualifi­cation for four Nigerian pharmaceutical compa­nies that enable them to sell their products glob­ally.

 

The coalition said un­der the leadership of Dr. Orhii, NAFDAC had 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 reads in part.

 

They also praised the conferment of global sta­tus on local drug plants through World Health Organisation (WHO) good manufacturing practice pre-qualifica­tion certification which has boosted self-reliance in production and com­petitive export.

 

By: ADEOLA TUKURU

National Mirror