FG Moves To Combat Counterfeit Drugs In Anambra

The Chairman, Federal Task Force on Fake, Counterfeit Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, Alhaji Hashim Yusufu, has inaugurated an eight-member task force in Anambra to combat drug counterfeiting in the state.

At the inauguration in Awka on Thursday, Yusufu said that fake and counterfeit drugs were responsible for treatment failures and development of drug resistance.

He said the scenario had created unfavourable business environment for manufacturers, importers and health-care providers.

The Chairman, who is also the Director, Narcotics and Control Substances of NAFDAC, added that the agency was reviewing its laws to ensure stricter punishments for offenders.

Some of the punishments, he said, included life jail and confiscation of property, as well as compensation to victims where drug counterfeit had caused grave injury.

While disclosing that 16 other states had been granted approval for similar task force, the chairman stressed that Anambra was given extra attention due to the huge commercial activities at the Onitsha Bridge Head Market.

Yusufu congratulated the newly-inaugurated members and urged them to view their assignment as an opportunity to provide unwavering service to the state and the country at large.

He also appealed to the state government to provide necessary tools and machinery to the state task force to perform optimally.

In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Amobi Ilika, gave the assurance that the government would support the activities of the task force.

Ilika emphasised that drug counterfeiting was morally and socially wrong and appealed to religious and traditional leaders, as well as other stakeholders to join in the fight against it.

Responding on behalf of the task force members, the Chairman and Director of Jamin Inter Pharmacy Ltd., Mr Alphonsus Muogbo, pledged the commitment of members to their assignment.