The national agency for food and drugs administration and control, NAFDAC, has put measures in place at various ports, to prevent the entry of specific brands of substandard paediatric cough syrups into the country.
This exercise comes after the cough syrups were certified unfit for use by the world health organization after the death of sixty six children in the Gambia.
The regulatory agency has also warned members of the public to discontinue the sale or use of the products and also to submit their existing stock to the nearest NAFDAC office.
Investigations are ongoing after the death of sixty six children in the Gambia, were linked to four brands of imported Indian cough syrup.
This has set off chain reactions from the world health organization and local health agencies on the distribution and use of the four brands of syrup.
The cough syrups have been allegedly linked to acute kidney injuries in Gambia.
The national agency for food and drugs administration and control has highlighted the steps it has taken to ensure the safety of Nigerians after an alert was sent out to the public on Monday.
GFX: Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited (Haryana, India)
· Promethazine Oral Solution,
· Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup,
· Makoff Baby Cough Syrup
· Magrip N Cold Syrup
The four cough syrups have now been put on the radar of the agency as it seeks key players to be vigilant within the supply chain in order to avoid the importation, distribution, sale and use of the substandard cough syrups.
The agency reveals that it has activated it’s internal surveillance mechanisms to mop up the products from the supply chain pipeline if they are ever found within the system.
Since the news broke, alerts were triggered widely over the agency’s website and all social media platforms and also sent to all health care providers, professional bodies and associations on the agency’s data base within the medicine supply chain.
