Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) Southern Highland Zone has seized and destroyed three metric tonnes of counterfeit drugs worth over 3m/- during the just ended financial year.
TMDA Acting Manager for the Southern Highlands Zone, Ms Anitha Mshighati revealed about the seizure and destruction of the drugs on the sidelines of the oneday training held here in the municipality which attracted pharmacy owners, superintendent pharmacists and distributors based in Rukwa Region.
She emphasised that the counterfeit drugs were seized and destroyed during the routine inspections carried out in Rukwa region during the last fiscal year.
Ms Mshighati explained further that during the inspections, TMDA experts removed from shelves condoms allegedly smuggled into the country from neighbouring Zambia.
“We confiscated pharmaceutical products and condoms smuggled into the country from neighbouring Zambia because we were not sure of their quality,” she noted.
She further explained that the cost of destroying counterfeit medicines and medical devices were covered by the owners. Ms Mshighati emphasised that pharmacists are entrusted to protect the health of the general public, thus they should play their role by supervising Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDO).
“ADDOs are licensed to sell a set of essential drugs to patients but some pharmacies are selling contraceptives including misoprostol to young girls. If the pills are not well used, they will result into long run effects,” she warned.
On her part, Southern Highland Zone TMDA drugs inspector, Ms Grace Kapande reminded participants during the training that Medical Stores Department (MSD) is a sole importer and distributor of psychotropic of drugs for human consumption to hospitals and health centres.
She emphasized that any authorised dealer may procure psychotropic substances and pharmaceutical products from any authorised importers, distributors and wholesalers. “Patient should procure the drugs from retail pharmacies by producing a valid medical prescription” she added.
