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A total of 13 fake drug peddlers at the Neoplan and VIP lorry stations, at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, in Accra, were on Tuesday arrested in a swoop, by the Pharmacy Council in collaboration with the police.
Several quantities of fake drugs, unlicensed drugs and unapproved medicines, including tramadol, penis enlargement creams, delay spray, Bazooka, long journey and other aphrodisiac, were also seized during the operation.
Some peddlers, who got wind of the operation, took to their heels leaving behind their wares.
Briefing journalists after the operations, the Head of Intelligence Gathering and Enforcement, Pharmacy Council, Mr William Rottermen, said the operation followed caution issued by the council to persons involved in the retail of drugs on the streets, to desist from the practice.
He said that drug peddling as well as van peddling had become a major healthcare challenge.
Mr Rottermen said the council was gradually dealing with the difficulty in tracing sources of some drugs and medications, and would soon swoop on wholesale outlets.
“The Pharmacy Council is having difficulty in dealing with illegal drug peddling and since retailers source their medicines from the wholesale, they must help us to deal with the canker,” he said.
Mr Rottermen lamented that some medicines were always in the sun and very difficult to tell their expiry dates.
He said “the information we have is that probably it is the wholesalers that sell to them, so we have gathered this wholesalers so that we will train them and discuss with them how to seal the leakage from their facilities.”
Mr Rottermen said after training, the council would seek the assistance of the police and arrest persons peddling medicines.
He reminded the public that the Health Professional Regulatory Act made it an offense to carry unauthorised medicines, adding that “It is also an offence to move about with medicines for sale.”
Mr Rottermen gave the assurance that the exercise would be sustained “until the streets are rid of fake drugs.”
He explained that the 13 arrested in the swoop, would be taken to the police station and processed for court, adding that “we are going to prosecute all of them to serve as a deterrent to the others.”
He also issued a caution to the wholesalers, and said the next phase of the operation would be targeted at them.
One of those arrested, Mary Boafo, told the Ghanaian Times that she wasn’t aware that her activities were illegal.
She said that was her only means of survival, stressing that her drugs were efficacious.
Ms Boafo therefore, pleaded for clemency, and added that she was prepared to be trained to ply her trade according to the law.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
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