NEWS- National Drug Authority (NDA) has conducted an intelligence led enforcement operation and arrested seven suspects that were vending drugs in open shift-markets of Bukhaweka and Butilu in Namisindwa District and Arapai in Soroti City.
The suspects that include Kisubi Jamada, Ali Matovu, Emmanuel Onyunyu (a medical laboratory assistant) and Mutawa Clemensia were found illegally displaying, selling, and advertising human and veterinary medicine under the scotching sun.
Eleven boxes of assorted medicine including ARVs, Antimalarials, HIV testing kits, veterinary medicine and unregistered herbal products were impounded.
The suspects are currently held at Mbale District Central Police Station and Soroti Regional Police Station; their files have been handed over to state attorney for prosecution.
Abiaz Rwamiri, the NDA communications officers explains.
Cue in………….Rwamwiri on suspects
He further explained that hawking medicine creates an opportunity for impure drugs—such as counterfeits, expired, repackaged, falsified, and substandard products—to be sold to the public without the necessary scrutiny from regulatory agencies.
“The safety, efficacy, and quality of drugs sold in open places, especially in makeshift markets, on transit buses, and on the streets, is uncertain. These drugs are exposed to extreme weather conditions as hawkers move from place to place,” he added.
Because hawkers are mobile, it is difficult to trace them and take regulatory action when unsuspecting customers consume the drugs and experience life-threatening reactions or receive no health benefit. This is because the vendors have no permanent location where they can be tracked.
