26th July, 2011
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in collaboration with International Police (INTERPOL) has trained the Task Force on Advanced Strategies for Detecting Counterfeit Medicines.
Dr. Paul Orhii, the Director-General of NAFDAC, who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the training in Abuja on Monday, said that the training was aimed at improving the expertise of the task force on detecting fake and counterfeit medicines.
Orhii noted that the technologies the agency had adopted in detecting counterfeit and fake drugs had been very successful.
“This training is aimed at strengthening the task force effort to combat counterfeit drugs, and also to consolidate their effort.
“I therefore urge you all to utilise the knowledge you will get from this training, because it will go a long way to curb the activities of counterfeiters,†he said.
According to him, there is need for members of the task force to intensify partnership with the agency on detecting counterfeit and fake drugs to protect the lives of Nigerians.
Orhii said that fake drugs were more prevalent at the rural areas, adding that people at the grassroots suffer the consequences more than those at the urban area.
Also speaking, Mrs. Aline Plancon, Head of Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Council Crime Unit, INTERPOL, said that the agency was working to meet up with the global expectation of fake drugs crime.
“INTERPOL is aimed at disbanding fake drugs dealers globally, therefore it has engaged in so many trainings in African countries,†she said.
Plancon said that the training would give participants better understanding of the menace of fake and counterfeit medicine and how to curb it.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of the task force involved in the training were NAFDAC officials, Nigeria Customs Service, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, Consumer Protection Council and the Nigeria Police Force.