From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food And Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared that about 15 per cent of drugs in Nigeria are substandard, as against 70 per cent recently reported in sections of the media.
It, however, confirmed that measures were in place to mitigate the situation and end the era of fake and substandard drugs and products in Nigeria.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who spoke to journalists at the sidelines of an event to present operational vehicles to officials of the agency in Abuja, yesterday, said digital tools and devices worth $2,280, 000 have been deployed to easily detect fake and substandard products across the country.
She said the agency was better prepared and equipped to fight fake and unwholesome products in Nigeria.
“The way the new device which has improved technology works is that you place it on the tablet or capsule and it instantly shows the content, pharmaceutical ingredients and other details of the drug. We are also using bar coding track and trace system to monitor supply chain of drugs and other products. We deployed that strategy on COVID-19 vaccines, and that made us to know the location of every COVID-19 vaccine across the country. These are some of the measures taken against substandard products.”