As it tightens the regulatory noose on manufacturing sector to weed out producers of substandard products in the country, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, said 35 companies including drug producers in Kano State are facing various degrees of sanctions for sharp practices in the first quarter, Q1, of the year 2023.
NAFDAC Coordinator in the State, Kasim Idrisa Ibrahim, who made the disclosure on Tuesday at a press conference, noted that the Agency carried out 280 regulatory activities within the period, 85 unscheduled visits to companies and other business premises and also carried out 108 surveillances in the period under review.
The sanctions, Ibrahim said, were meted out for offences bordering on non-compliance to guidelines in production, poor storage practices, production of sub-standard products among others.
Ibrahim, who did not disclose the names of the sanctioned companies said, “We have made a number of arrests in connection to these cases, some of them are on administrative bail, some transferred to our enforcement department in Kaduna while some even had to be detained, it all depend on the nature of the crime committed”, he added.
Further, the State Coordinator lamented that the level of poor method of drug storage in Kano is alarming and that the Agency is doing very thing possible to address the situation and will leverage on the new Pharmaceutical Market constructed along Zaria Road, Kano equipped with modern storage facilities where all drug sellers in the state are expected to move to, as another means of addressing the problem.
Suggesting that the guidelines are most compromised by drug market players, Ibrahim said, “One Major problem in the state is poor storage of drugs. The efficacy of drugs in treating a patient starts with how and where the drug is stored.
“Drug sellers in the state have been observed to expose these products to harsh weather conditions. You sometimes find drugs which are supposed to be stored in a cool temperature under shelves above room temperature”.
“Rather than provide relief to the consumer, such products end up causing more problem for the consumer and in some cases leads to loss of life”.
“We are concerned because Kano is the Hub, most of the neighboring states and as far as Adamawa, to Taraba states in the Northeast get their drugs from Kano, if we get it wrong here, it means the problem is spreading. This, we must not allow to continue”, he assured.
Kasim, also revealed that, NAFDAC approved the registration of 20 new products in the state during the period under review while calling on all stakeholders not to relent in joining hands with the agency in safeguarding the public by ensuring all producers of consumables adhere strictly to the agency’s guidelines for production, storage, handling and distributions of their products.
