NAFDAC Tasks Medical Personnel On Report

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has urged medical personnel to report adverse drug reaction to save lives.

Mr Richard Anichukwu, NAFDAC Director in Ebonyi State, made the plea in Abakaliki at a workshop on pharmaco vigilance organised for medical personnel.

Pharmaco vigilance is the science and acitivities concerned with the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse reactions to medications.

The goal of this activity is to improve the safe and rational use of medicines, thereby improving patient care and public health.

Anichukwu said that the training was to update the knowledge of the personnel on how to report adverse drugs reaction cases to the appropriate authorities and issues concerning pharmaco vigilance.

“This would enable NAFDAC to take appropriate actions to ensure that the drugs in question are monitored to avert further adverse effects,” he said.

“Medical personnel should encourage patients to report cases of drugs reaction due to its devastating effect to enable NAFDAC to determine whether to withdraw the drugs from the market or not.”

Dr Fortune Ujunwa, a consultant to NAFDAC on pharmaco vigilance, said that the advantages of reporting adverse drugs reaction cases were enormous.

“Such reportage prevents deaths and deformities in babies and adults as appropriate actions are taken on the drugs when reported.

“It also ensures that all drugs in the national drugs distribution system are safe, efficacious and of good quality,” he said.

According to him, medical personnel should encourage patients to report adverse drugs reactions voluntarily to the appropriate authorities for immediate action.