Chioma Umeha
Safe Medicine Foundation has debunked rumours
making rounds that 70 per cent of drugs in Nigeria are fake, saying that it
completely supports the position of National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the matter.
A statement made available to journalists in
Lagos, attributed the false rumour to misinformation arising from the
presentation of Dr. Andrew Nevin of PwC, the keynote address speaker of the
91st Annual National Conference of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) held
in Umuahia, Abia state.
According to the statement signed by Dr. Ifeanyi
Okechukwu, Executive Director, Safe Medicines Foundation; “This wrong
information misquoted, Dr. Andrew Nevin of PwC, the keynote address speaker of
the 91st Annual National Conference of PSN held in Umuahia, Abia 2017.
“Instead of writing 17 per cent of fake medicines,
the figure was exaggerated and given out last year.”
It noted that it is vital for the media to do
thorough research and be factual on a complex information concerning the
dominance of fake and substandard drugs in the country and avoid hurrying to
misinform health conscious Nigerians and portray the pharmaceutical industry in
bad light.
The statement lamented; “We are concerned and
perturbed that this same wrong figure keeps reemerging again.
“NAFDAC on their part is already taking the lead
on drug regulatory agency in Africa and the achievement of this agency in the
past 25 years has led to great confidence in Nigeria made pharmaceutical
products in Africa and Europe.
“The staffs and management also are giving their
best to ensure that the health of the nation is safeguarded.
“To keep improving these, the government needs to
encourage the Agency with adequate funding and good will of the public so as to
have the ability of functioning as a modern regulatory body.
“Safe Medicine Foundation led by Pharm. Ahmed
Yakasai, the Immediate past president of the pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria
(PSN), is a public health group that is dedicated to the safety of all
pharmaceutical products and protecting consumers against fake drugs,” it said.
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