NAFDAC destroys fake drugs in Benue State

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday in Makurdi, destroyed substandard, fake and adulterated medicines and food valued at N400million.

The Director General of NAFDCAD, Dr Paul Orhii, who led the destruction, vowed that the agency would continue to destroy harmful items in pursuant to its mandate of ensuring a healthy country.

He said that the items were seized by various NAFDAC units across the North Central zone and explained that most of the items were expired medicines.

“Most of the expired drugs were voluntarily handed over to NAFDAC by officials of the state ministries of health and other stakeholders,’’ he stated.

The NAFDAC boss decried the prevalence of fake drugs and described the situation as “economic sabotage and terrorism against public health.

“I have always urged religious and community leaders, traditional rulers and members of the public to support the fight against the cankerworm. I will continue to sing that song,’’ he said.

The NAFDAC boss said that the agency was determined to rid the country of all counterfeit and fake drugs via proactive approaches that would combat the menace.

He said that the agency had modern technologies to track fake and adulterated drugs and called for public support toward total success.

Said Orhii: “We have deployed the latest technology in this fight and we are happy that we have results. We are the first medicine regulatory authority in the world to deploy the use of the TRUSCAN equipment to identify counterfeit medicines on the field.

“We have also deployed the Mobile Authentication System, Minilab and Black Eye and they have also greatly contributed to a significant drop in the percentage of fake and counterfeit medicines in circulation in our country,” he said.

He assured Nigerians of the agency’s continued onslaught against fake drug sellers and their agents, saying that surveillance and enforcement operations were being intensified at the ports, borders and other identified routes used by smugglers.