The Pharmacy Board Inspector who is also the Secretary to the Ad Hoc Task Force on Drugs in the Kenema and Kailahun districts Allieu Katta has said that he will leave no stone unturned in making sure that the issue of counterfeit, substandard, deteriorated, expired and illegally imported products are being taken care of in his area of operations.
He made this statement while addressing hundreds of business people and professionals who deal in drugs in the two district at the nurses lecture room at the government hospital along Combema road in Kenema.
He said the essence of his meeting with them is to sensitize them about the guidelines of the operations of pharmacy, drug store and patent medicine and the prevailing counterfeit drugs in the market today. Mr. Katta advised all to always buy their drugs from a reputable wholesaler and must make sure that he/she requests for a receipt and the receipt must bear the batch number of the product purchased adding that those who will fail to acquire receipt with batch number will have themselves to blame. Saying that any drug/ medicine that is not computerized by the pharmacy board is considered illegal and must be collected from the market.
Mr. Katta pointed out that most the business people do not want to go by the correct procedure, saying the pharmacy board deals with the law and everybody must be careful in dealing with the law and promise that every outlet in the districts must have its individual file in which information about their pharmacies will be recorded during inspection.
He warned those who are in the habit of selling drugs on the street or in the mosques to stop immediately saying that he is going to collaborate with the police and crack down on defaulters and prosecute them. He cautioned those who want to go into medicine business that they must go according to the rules of the game. He further advised the business people to always upkeep their places of business as cleanliness is Godliness.
He disclosed that most of the drugs coming into the country are not fit for human consumption, which he termed as a threat to public health. We are there to ensure that all drugs coming into the country must be safe and of good quality. I am not in the region to take people out of business but to enforce the law he concluded.
Samples of the fake, substandard, counterfeit and expired drugs were displayed to all in the meeting and several questions were asked by the business people and answers were provided by the high table.
Other contributions came from Alex Soko Turay Pharmacy Board Inspector, Thomas Ade Williams Chairman Ad Hoc Task Force on drugs eastern region, Francis Bawoh Board Inspector Chairman pharmaceutical business Association Kenema / Kailahun and Gabriel Kenei Saffa member task force on drugs eastern region.
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