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Food and Drugs Board declares war on illegal herbal drugs
By Awudu Salami Sule, Ghanadot
Accra, July 12, Ghanadot - As
health care gets increasingly expensive in many African
countries, a growing number of people are turning to
traditional herbal medicine.
The World Health Organisation estimates seven out of 10
people in Africa rely on traditional herbal medicine. In
many countries however, these drugs are not certified and
their use raise safety concerns.
In Ghana for instance, it is common to hear from traditional
herbalist proclaiming how one herbal drug could cure about
20 diseases. Also, the dosage on these herbal drugs and its
expiry dates are most often not known.
The situation is no different at the various herbal clinics
who many Ghanaians believed operate under license from the
Food and Drugs Board. It was recently discovered by the
authorities of Food and Drugs board that most of the drugs
that are being administered by some of the herbal clinics
are not certified by the board and therefore poses great
danger to the health of the general public.
Also, most of these herbal clinics have no equipment to
diagnose a disease and therefore employed unorthodox and
unhygienic means for that.
With the upsurge in illegal activities of some of the herbal
clinics, many Ghanaians are wondering whether the Foods and
Drugs Board has the teeth to bite. The Food and Drugs Board
is charged with the responsibility of determining the
quality, safety and efficacy of herbal drugs and other
imported drugs.
Dr Agyeman Dua, Director of herbal drugs has said, the board
has never relent over its responsibility of ensuring that
safety herbal drugs are administered.
He told Ghanadot in an interview that, his outfit has waged
war on illegal activities of some of the herbal clinics and
it is achieving results.
"Everyday we visit herbal clinics for inspection and we make
sure they operate in line with our policy", he said.
He has however call on Ghanaians to report to his outfit
herbal drugs that they think is causing harm to the general
public for quick expulsion from the market.
"We cannot identify all the illegal drugs in the system and
it behoves on Ghanaians to help us fight this menace by
giving us useful information", Dr Agyemang added.
Ghanadot
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