Pharmacy and Poisons Board seizes Sh2m smuggled drugs

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) has raised an alarm over the proliferation of fake cough syrups and antibiotics in the country.

On Friday, officers from the agency nabbed drugs worth Sh2 million being sneaked into the country through the Uganda and Tanzania borders.

The drugs smuggled through Namanga, Loitoktok, Busia and Malaba were being ferried using public service vehicles and personal cars. According to the board’s senior inspector of drugs Julius Kaluai, most of the medicines are not registered in the country and those who were ferrying the drugs did not have documentation showing where they had picked the drugs and their destination.

Among the drugs seized were antibiotics, analgesics (painkillers), cough syrups and diagnostic devices.

“Most of the drugs that were seized are not registered in Kenya. Even though they are registered in the neighbouring counties, in Kenya they are illegal. This can be dangerous to many Kenyans, considering that they are not genuine,” Mr Kaluai said.

Recently, the Board shut down 40 illegal and unlicensed pharmacies in Nairobi County and its environs. According to the regulator, many premises, not just Nairobi, have people masquerading as pharmacists. The crackdown saw 29 facilities in Pipeline closed with others in Makadara area.

Public health centres

The Kenya Household Health Expenditure Survey of 2013 found that pharmacies are the third most popular service providers for outpatient care after public health centres and dispensaries and public hospitals. It also revealed that one in 10 Kenyans consult a pharmacist instead of going to a hospital when they are sick, while 31 per cent of Kenyans buy medication over the counter without seeking a medical practitioner’s advice.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines counterfeit medicine as “one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity or source”. These include both branded and generic products. It estimates that about 100,000 deaths a year in Africa are linked to the counterfeit drugs trade.

The drugs seized have since been taken for analysis to verify their content since some could contain either the wrong dose of active ingredients or none at all.

“We are going to monitor export and import of the drugs because some of our officers are also sneaking drugs to the said countries. We will control by all means the smuggling of the illegal medicine through the porous borders,” said Mr Kaluai.

Importation of medicinal substances that are unfit for use in humans and without an import licence goes against the PPB rules and regulations.

Any company transporting medicines should ensure they have the documents showing the source and the recipient, otherwise, on interception, the board inspectors shall assume the consignment is being trafficked.

The mushrooming of the illegal importation of unregistered drugs has mainly been triggered by the directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to withdraw some state agencies, including PPB from the ports of entry.

Blatant scheme

The Senate’s Health committee had in the past questioned why PPB inspectors were kicked out from the ports of entry, claiming that it was a blatant scheme to allow some well-connected individuals to engage in the dubious business of sneaking in fake drugs

Until the President’s directive, officers from the PPB inspected all the imported medicines at all the ports of entry. Since the agency is no longer allowed to operate at the ports, it now heavily relies on market surveillance.

“Many companies, some that we had seized drugs from before, are taking advantage of our absence. But we are determined, we will get them, they will not know when we will carry out intelligence inspections,” said an officer who sought anonymity

He added: “The Kenyan market is flooded by so many ‘unregulated’ or ‘briefcase’ importers who mainly use consolidated cargo. They are taking advantage.”