By: Modou Touray
As Gambians raise concerns and allegations following the demise of 66 children linked to imported paracetamol syrups, Director General (EG) of the country’s Medicines Control Agency – Mrs Markieu Janneh Kaira – has admitted that the agency lacks testing laboratory capacity for imported medicines. Mrs Kaira expressed profound concerns about the loss of lives, pointing out that efforts are being made to speed up the availability of a modern scientific testing lab to verify the quality of all imported medicines.
In an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network, Mrs Janneh-Kaira asserted that the medicine control agency’ s capacity gap in terms of human and material resources is hindering their operations.
“We are working with the government to have a functional modern testing lab. Right now, we rely on the World Health Organization (WHO) certified laboratories abroad for us to have concrete results. Quality testing takes time.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published a communique raising concerns about the death of children in the Gambia reportedly caused by cough and cold syrups imported from India.
Responding to the WHO publication, the EG of Medicines Control Agency agreed with concerns raised by the global health body, referring to the global health alert statement as a routine global health response alert in which member countries are informed about health issues.
“They do this worldwide and for all countries. The information they published is definitely the information they received from the government and the medicine control agency of the Gambia,” Mrs Janneh- Kaira said.
She disclosed that all medicines implicated in the WHO alert statement have been immediately suspended and that constant monitoring is ongoing to entirely clear them from pharmacies and drug stores.
“Our team is currently on a grassroot campaign in the communities to talk to mothers and the general public to dispose the said syrups in their possession. With the help of Red Cross volunteers and the World Health Organization, we are doing this house-to-house.”
Regarding the identification of importers of the said medicines, she revealed that some were identified but that the investigation is not conclusive.
She further disclosed that the implicated medicines fall under the category of medicines not registered, noting that they were legally imported into the country.
She assured the agency’s commitment to conduct thorough investigating into the squality of medicines in the Gambia.
The Medicine Control Agency – The Gambia was established by the Medicines Control Act of 2014. It is the body set up by government to regulate medicines and related products. Part of their mandate is to ensure that medicines and related products imported into the country are fit for human consumption. The effectiveness of the agency in doing such remains doubtful doubt since it lacks the required human, technical and material resources to ensure safe medicines in the country.
