Food and Drugs Department acquires mini labs for monitoring fake drug imports, expired drugs
Stabroek News
December 8, 2006
The Food and Drugs Department is improving its capacity to detect expired and fake medicines on the local market through the acquisition of two mini laboratories capable of conducting simple, quick analysis to hone in on sub-standard and fake medicines. The mini laboratories have been acquired as part of a broader training programme in Good Laboratory Practices which is being sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The training programme which is being conducted by the United States-based non governmental organization United States Pharmacopeia (USP)seeks to equip participating agencies to develop quality control and raise standards in the local pharmaceuticals industry. Participants from three local agencies, the Food and Drugs Department, the Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation and the University of Guyana as well as two Surinamese nationals are taking part in the programme.
USP course instructor Adrian Barojas told Stabroek Business that the new mini laboratories were developed by the German Pharma Health Fund in collaboration with the USP and had the capacity to conduct tests on forty medications.
Head of the Food and Drug Department Carol Collins told Stabroek Business that the acquisition of the mini laboratories coupled with the training of two inspectors will enhance the capacity of the department to detect and remove from the market sub-standard and fake drugs. Ms. Collins said that the focus of the department on ensuring the drugs being dispensed in the local health sector possessed required therapeutic quality meant that it was concerned about intercepting counterfeit drugs and removing expired drugs from circulation.
Ms Collins told Stabroek Business that the Food and Drugs Department was still concerned about its limited capacity to inspect drugs being imported into Guyana in view of its scarce resources. She explained that the effectiveness of the Department was also constrained by the limited cooperation that it was receiving from customs operatives. Ms. Collins said that while, ideally, the Food and Drugs Department would wish to be in a position to inspect drug imports at ports of entry it generally received no notification from the Customs Administration regarding the arrival of shipments of drugs. She said that the Department usually become aware of the arrival of shipments of drugs through those importers who choose to make their imports available for inspection. According to Ms. Collins contact between the Food and Drug Department and the Customs Administration was invariably limited to those occasions on which customs was seeking to dispose of quantities of drugs that had been detained at the port of entry for long periods.
Ms. Collins told Stabroek Business that the Food and Drugs Department was currently staffed with three Inspectors who had country-wide monitoring responsibility. She said that the work of the Department was being supported by Environmental Health Officers in the various regions.