Narcotics abuse: NAFDAC deploys track and trace mechanisms

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has put in place effective mechanisms to track and trace narcotic products right from production, the manufacturing plant, to the end user.

A statement from the agency, Sunday said its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the disclosure while commissioning the narcotic drugs serialisation pilot project in Lagos.

Prof Adeyeye said the move was geared towards tackling the menace of drug and substance abuse in Nigeria, particularly amongst the teeming youth population.

She said that narcotics were chosen amongst other classes of drugs to mitigate drug abuse, adding that this will be replicated for all other NAFDAC-regulated drug products.

She said that one of the greatest challenges in the healthcare sector is the occurrence of substandard and falsified medicines.

She said that in Nigeria, the problem is further compounded by the chaotic drug distribution practices of unscrupulous elements who do not place a premium on human lives.

She added that these were the sharp practices that the Traceability Project (Track and Trace) sought to stop.

Through the scanning device on an Android phone, the NAFDAC boss said consumers can now verify the authenticity of the drug product they consume and be assured of the quality of medicines.

She added that the track and trace technology is a veritable tool to be deployed in the event of medication recalls.

Prof Adeyeye said that manufacturers must first commission the products they are registered to distribute into the NAFDAC Traceability System, and when it gets to the distributors or the wholesalers, they will also scan the products using a 2D Data Matrix barcode scanner to capture the event related to the movement of the product.

The Managing Director of the technical partner, GS1 Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Odunlami said that the journey started over ten years ago when the company started preaching the importance of traceability.