The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC said it has sanctioned no fewer than 35 companies in Kano during the first quarter of the year 2023.
The State Coordinator, Kasim Idrisa Ibrahim made the disclosure yesterday in Kano during a press conference to intimate journalists about activities of the Agency during the period under review.
According to him, 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. All these, he said were part of redoubled efforts towards ensuring best practices among manufacturers in the state.
Ibrahim stated that the affected businesses were sanctioned for various offences ranging from non-compliance to NAFDAC guidelines in production, poor storage practices, production of sub-standard products as well as other sharp practices which could endanger the lives and health of the general public.
“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.
Furthermore, 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.
“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.