Mrs Obiamaka Okeke felt some irritation on the upper lid of her right eye. However, she dismissed it, believing it was nothing serious and that soon enough it will disappear. But she was wrong as two days later she observed that, that particular eyelid had started to swell up.
She went to Park Lane Hospital G.R.A Enugu where a doctor prescribed some medications for her. On reaching home, she went to Klinemed Pharmacy, on 14 College Rd. Abakpa Nike and bought Lincomycin 500mg by Mekophar, 297/5 Ly ThuongKiet Str.
Okeke eagerly started the medication as directed by the physician and the pharmacist simply referred to as Emeka. After a complete day of the medication, she noticed she was not getting better but rather she was getting worse. The swelling was increasing. She then went back to the pharmacist to query the efficacy and the genuineness of the medicine. “Are you sure this medicine is the original one because you see that my eyelid is swelling the more?” She asked the pharmacist.
Dispelling her fears, Emeka convinced her of the genuineness of the medicine and explained that she needed to take more of the medication before she may notice some positive changes.
Though not convinced with that explanations, Obiamaka reluctantly left for home and continued with the medicine as advised by Emeka. However, after three days of being on the medicine, she had no respite. Both the upper and lower lids of her right eye and the surrounding areas have all swollen up that she could barely see with that eye.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you view the situation, her time in the Coal City was up. She only came to Enugu for a short holiday to see her lovely mother. With the swollen eye and all, she had to board an Areo flight back to Lagos.
Of course she received some glances from curious passengers who wondered what must have gone wrong with such a beautiful face. Immediately she landed in Lagos, without going home, she went straight to a doctor who, after listening to her and examining her, requested to see the medication she was taking.
The doctor took the pack of the medicine, examined it, hissed and threw it aside saying that the consumption of even ten packs of it would have been of no effect as that particular brand of that medicine was not working.
“We have complained about that particular medication so I do not know why it is still in circulation. If it had been the Pfizer brand, the swelling on your eyelids would have disappeared,” he said.
Prescribing Ampiclox and Chymotrypsin for Mrs. Okeke, he regretted that government regulatory agencies were not living up to expectations.
Confirming what the doctor said, Anthony Akhimien, ex- President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria said that their professional body has formally made complaints about the poor efficacy of that particular medicine and wondered why it should still be sold to people.
After three days of taken the medication prescribed for her by doctor in Lagos, Mrs. Okeke saw that the swelling was almost gone and by the fourth day she was happily back to work.
She was lucky. Some people have died in cases like this while some have remained maimed. We have so many documented cases of people dying due to fake and adulterated products in Nigeria.
The incidence of fake and adulterated products cuts across every segment. It is not limited to drugs alone. According to Hansen Maduagwu, the National Coordinator, Anti Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative, “the degree of counterfeits in Nigeria has grown tremendously that even brand owners are finding it difficult to distinguish between their original brand products and the fakes.”
Just recently, Nigerian Ball Point Pen Industries Plc, producers of BIC shaving stick, bemoaned the large scale counterfeiting of its products by an Onitsha-based company, Bendusco International Agency and D&K Industries Limited.
The company’s National Sales Officer, Mr. Fatai Olashore, who is also the representative of BIC in Nigeria, said, “Bendusco International Agency Ltd and D&K industries have engaged in manufacturing, importing and selling of fake BIC shaving sticks for over 12 years.”
The representative of BIC who displayed the adulterated products said a raid led to the recovery of millions of fake, adulterated and substandard BIC shaving sticks.
The Nigerian Ball Piont Pen Industries regretted that as a result of this, it laid off employees.
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had also raised an alarm over the threat of fake and counterfeit products to the real sector.
A top official said the real sector was under siege as manufacturers were big victims of large scale product adulteration, faking and counterfeiting. He said that counterfeiting was killing local initiatives, creating unemployment and increasing poverty level.
The Anti Piracy Manager, Microsoft Nig., Temofe Ugbona said that there are quite a number of resellers in the country in possession of high quality counterfeit soft ware, “a trend resulting in many consumers who believe they are purchasing from a reliable source unknowingly becoming victims of software piracy.”
Investigations revealed that even at the popular Computer Village Ikeja, there are more fake telephone and computer accessories than the original ones. There are even shops and warehouses within the market where the parts are assembled, refurbished and sold as brand new ones.
While reiterating the need to play it safe, Microsoft urges consumers to ask questions, investigate the packaging, watch out for ‘too good to be true’ prices and demand genuine software to ensure what is paid for and to protect families and businesses from the threat of malware associated with pirated or counterfeit software.
Just as piracy has also eaten deep into the fabrics of Nigeria’s entertainment industry, Vitafoam, one of Nigeria’s oldest manufacturing companies, has said that counterfeiting and imitation of its products are the major challenges facing the organisation and the industry at large.
The company said the imitation of its products is a major obstacle especially in the north and that complaints keep coming in.
It could be recalled that the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP) had called for a proper regulation and monitoring of pharmaceutical industry and for stricter laws and policies to be enacted with full implementation and enforcement in order to stem out the menace of drug counterfeiting in the country.
