15 pharmaceutical
and patent medicine stores in Calabar, Cross River State have been
closed down for allegedly selling fake, unregistered, expired or banned
drugs to unsuspecting members of the public.
The closure was
facilitated by a team from the National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC) which carried out routine search on
some designated Pharmacies and Patent Medicine stores in Calabar South
and Calabar Municipal Council. Abisola Adekoja, the deputy director of
ports inspection of NAFDAC who headed the team, said at the Marian Road
in Calabar Municipal Council, only Spearhead Pharmacy and Peace
Pharmacy were certified to have passed the on-the-spot test carried out
by an electronic machine called Truscan on all the drugs on the shelves.
She revealed that
Bell Pharmacy, Goewind Pharmacy and Emedu Patent medicine stores at
Ika-Ika Oqua Market were closed down for selling fake, banned and
unregistered drugs.
The Truscan machine
She maintained that
with the use of Truscan machine, the team was able to test the quality
of drugs in all the pharmaceutical and patent medicine shops visited.
“During testing
with Truscan, we also looked out for expired products and drugs that
are banned from the country. Drugs like Fansidar and Septrin are banned
from coming into the country,” she said.
Manufacturers of the fake drugs, she disclosed, “used chalk and
cassava to produce drugs like Paracetamol, Amoxin and Amalar. As a
result of our intensified efforts on these fake drugs business, in no
distant time, I can assure that fake drugs will be completely
eradicated.” She Predicted
