By Shadrach Okon
NAFDAC has received expired drugs worth over N460million from Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria,( ACPN) Akwa Ibom State Branch.The official forfeiture of the expired drugs took place on Tuesday, 17th December, at the Federal Secretary field, Uyo.
Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State Branch, Pharm.Anderson Tony said the exercise was a deliberate initiative aimed at getting rid of expired drugs in the state to avert their reintroduction into the open unregulated market.
He noted with dismay that: “unscrupulous individuals within the drug trade have been known to recycle expired medicines, rebranding them with counterfeit expiry dates, thereby exposing unsuspecting consumers to toxic substances.”
Anderson Tony attributed the high cases of kidney failure and liver damage in the country to the chaotic distribution of expired drugs which are essentially toxic agents that pose grave risks to human health, organ failure, toxicity, and treatment resistance.
In his speech the Akwa Ibom State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr. Naeche John commended the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State for Partnering with NAFDAC in the state to get rid of expired drugs and assured that the expired drugs and others pharmaceuticals handed to NAFDAC by the association would be properly dispose of.
Earlier in his welcome address, Pharm. Donatus Adigom the Financial Secretary of the association said ACPN has strong commitment to ensuring proper documentation, disposable and destruction of expired medication. He explained that to mop up the expired drugs ACPN had established collection centres in all the three senatorial districts of the state –Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene to facilitate the collection of the expired drugs.
