GAFTRAM Descends on Unregistered Drugs Peddlers

The Assin North Municipal branch of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners (GAFTRAM) has scaled-up public education to rid the area of unregistered herbal practitioners.

The exercise is aimed at clamping down on persons who had taken to the streets and information centres selling unregistered herbal concoctions, aphrodisiacs and other drugs to the public.

Mr Emmanuel Osae, the District Chairman of GAFTRAM in an interview with the Ghana News Agency advised consumers to always buy their drugs from approved sources and avoid buying from unregistered drug peddlers.

He said there were fake herbal drugs on the market which were worsening the health of the people and therefore rallied a renewed commitment by stakeholders to effectively tackle the growing menace.

He said herbal medicine must be seen to be augmenting the orthodox medicine to improve the healthcare of the people but not to kill them.

Mr Osae expressed worry about the frequent advertisement on drugs and other consumables in the media without approval from the FDA and urged the public to help ensure that counterfeit drugs were disposed of from the market.

He gave assurance that the Association was in negotiation with the various transport unions to find a way of monitoring their drivers to get them to desist from allowing people to sell drugs in their buses.

The organisation, according to him, would continue to partner the Security agencies, the FDA and other relevant stakeholders to organise periodic swoops to raid the society of such self-seeking unscrupulous drug peddlers.

Mr Osae indicated that GAFTRAM had previously embarked on similar exercises and would continue to do so until they were sure that there were no such products on the market.

He said the culprits arrested have been handed over to the police for the necessary action to be taken.

He urged that the drugs peddlers be screened to identify the genuine and licensed ones, to bring some sanity into the healthcare system, to ensure the safety of the citizenry.

He however, appealed to the citizenry to strictly monitor and volunteer timely and accurate information that would lead to the arrest of peddlers of fake herbal drugs in the country.

Mr Osae, appealed to the media to help educate consumers about the functions of the FDA and its significance.

Source: GNA