More sensitisation is needed to alert the public, especially those at the grassroots level, over the infiltration of our markets by killer Made-in-India cough syrups which have already wreaked havoc in the Gambia.

On October 5, 2022, the World Health Organisation, WHO, raised the alarm over four contaminated drugs linked with acute kidney injuries and the death of 66 children in the West African country. According to the WHO: “The four medicines are cough and cold syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd in India. WHO is conducting further investigation with the company and regulatory authorities in India…the loss of these young lives is beyond heart breaking”.

The killer drugs are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup. The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said in a statement that laboratory analysis of the products has confirmed that they contain “unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants”.

South East Asian countries, particularly India, Pakistan and China, which are among the front liners in the worldwide production, distribution and sale of pharmaceuticals, tend to indulge in the obnoxious practice of producing fake, sub-standard and poisonous medicines which they export to other parts of the Third World, particularly Africa.

Due to the weak regulatory frameworks in the destination countries, some of the manufacturers wilfully collude with unscrupulous individuals and criminal cartels to sell death to unsuspecting consumers. Many of the fake drugs are clearly marked “for export only”.

During her tenure at the NAFDAC, the late Professor Dora Akunyili, earned her eternal reputation with the manner in which she battled these blood merchants and their local and foreign collaborators. She went to these countries and brokered bilateral pacts which enabled NAFDAC to send its enforcement operatives to those countries to test and approve every drug before they are shipped exported to Nigeria. When the drugs arrived at the ports, they were cross-checked again.

Akunyili made sure that drugs that unfit for local consumption were prohibited from being exported to Nigeria. NAFDAC’s enforcement agents roamed the markets, drug stores and motor parks to sanitise the system and keep the public safe.

We call on NAFDAC to return to that template. Their call for members of the public to “avoid” the aforementioned drugs is not enough. They should encourage the public to report the perpetrators for prompt action, while the drugs are seized and destroyed.

NAFDAC should be more proactive than merely issuing advisories. The people in the rural areas and the urban poor are more likely than others to fall victim. Extra effort should be made to protect them.

Fake and substandard drugs should be kept off our markets.