Kwara State Governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed has called on the National Assembly and state houses of assembly to introduce stiffer penalties for the production and supply of substandard drugs.
Governor Ahmed made the call in Ilorin at the opening ceremony of the 86th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria.
The Governor noted that it was unfortunate that substandard drugs were still sneaked into the health delivery system across the country thus putting the health of patients in jeopardy.
He added that his administration has established the Fake and Counterfeit Drugs Task Force and a drug abuse control structure to check the menace of fake drugs and drug abuse.
He also charged members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to ensure that the new drug distribution guideline was implemented in all the states of the federation, as part of strategies to check fake drug incidents in the country.
Governor Ahmed advocated a synergy between pharmaceutical and traditional medical practitioners in order to widen the horizon of medical care in the country as evidence supported the efficacy of traditional medicine.
He, therefore, canvassed for rigorous research into herbs to determine their efficacy and safety, so that the nation could benefit from the therapeutic and economic advantages of alternative medicine.
The Kwara State Chairman of the society, Mojeed Oderinde called on the Nigerian Government to exercise its political will in dealing decisively with producers of fake drugs, to serve as deterrent to others.
