By Tony Edike

ENUGU – AS part of efforts to rid the entire nation of fake and adulterated drugs, the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, said yesterday that it had concluded plans to establish desk offices in all the 774 local governments areas of the country.

The agency, however, expressed happiness over the reduction in fake drugs sold in Enugu State, pointing out that about 90 per cent of drugs sold in the state were genuine.

The idea of penetrating the hinterlands , according to the regulatory body, is to ensure that those operating patent medicine stores in rural communities sold only drugs approved by NAFDAC.

Briefing reporters shortly after one day routine shop-to-shop enforcement monitoring of pharmaceutical and patent drug stores in Enugu State with the newly acquired THRUSCAN machine, Director-General of NAFDAC,  Dr. Paul Orhii, said the organization had zero tolerance for fake and adulterated drugs, stressing  that the “war against counterfeit drugs in Nigeria, remains a war for all.”

The NAFDAC boss, who was represented by a deputy director in the agency, Comfort Makanjuola, explained that the aim of acquiring the capital intensive modern scanning machine, which has a capacity to detect fake drugs like a full laboratory within a minute, was to ensure that all the fake drugs imported into the nation’s open market by some merchants were not sold to innocent Nigerians.

He explained further that the THRUSCAN machine, which is brand specific, had the signatories of all
drug manufacturers across the globe.  This, he added, would  enable the agency detect fake drugs easily  when tested.