Policemen check confiscated fake drugs after they smashed a counterfeit gang in Xuchang, Henan province, China on March 18, 2009. China's poorly regulated medical market has spawned a new 'Wild West' for untested drugs offered by fly-by-night firms
With a ready market especially among the illiterate, Chinese medicines are making it big in Ghana. However, a lingering grouse in Africa has been that China is taking advantage of booming economic ties to flood the market with sub-standard goods, and their drugs are now coming under close scrutiny.
Ghana's Food and Drug Board (FDB) is currently on a crusade to wipe out suspect drugs from the West African country's market, and this has led to the arrest of some Chinese businessmen said to be behind the bustling trade.
Bilateral relations between the two countries are at a high, with the Chinese government pouring billions of dollars into Ghana's economy. During an official visit to China in September, Ghana President John Atta Mills wrung about $13 billion in development projects contracts for his country.
But the cordial relationship may be marred by what the FDB claims is an alarming inflow of fake medicines from China.
According to China's drug safety watchdog, illegal drugs and medical devices cases in China totalled 297,500 in 2008 alone, down almost 10 per cent from 329,613 in 2007. It is feasible these are finding their way into Ghana's market.
Aphrodisiacs, already big business in China are among those under the microscope. In a July swoop at one of the main markets at Agbogbloshie in Accra, FDB officials seized various drugs which they claimed had not been registered with the board.
In a statement, the FDB warned the public against these Chinese drugs and cautioned the populace against “the circulation of a variety of unregistered medicines, especially aphrodisiacs, being offered for sale to unsuspecting consumers on the market.”
Warned Ghanaians
“These sex-enhancing medicines, which have inscriptions in Chinese, Akan, Russian and other foreign languages, on the packaging, have not undergone any laboratory analysis or testing by the Food and Drugs Board and therefore their safety cannot be guaranteed,” it said.
But some Ghanaian traders who openly deal in these medicines have criticised the FDB for "destroying" their business.
By FRANCIS KOKUTSE in Accra
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