An enforcement team from National Drug Authority (NDA) has Friday concluded their operation, confiscating drugs which are not supposed to be on the market, worth Shs 200 million in Kampala and Wakiso
According to Dr. Muhammad Lukwago the head of NDA’s central region operations, the confiscated drugs include; popular emergency contraceptive pill postinor 2 which was found on the market yet only those in dark green packaging were authorized.
Dr. Lukwago couldn’t tell whether the drug is counterfeit or not as laboratory analysis of the confiscated drug have just started. He however said minor checks on the labels and batch numbers show the drug should be sold in Kenya, not Uganda.
Dr. William Tamale who is in charge of the areas says the same operation led to inspection of 787 drug outlets of which 283 were issued with closure notices and others closed. Among outlets inspected were 45 pharmacies, 645 drug shops for human medicine, 15 veterinary drug shops whereas 69 clinics were operating illegal pharmacies and illegal drug shops therein.
The operation also targeted herbal medicine dealers who were selling drugs that are not labelled. Dr. Lukwago noted that NDA has made reforms and come up with requirements for acceptable packaging for herbal medicines.
Six people were also apprehended for hawking herbal medicines and megaphones were confiscated.
NDA says cracking the whip on herbalists followed a cordial interaction with leaders of herbalists and over 95 members based in Kampala to orientate them on best practices.
