Kwara State governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has expressed concern over the activities of, "unscrupulous elements in the state who sneak substandard drugs into the health delivery system, thus putting the health of patients in jeopardy".

He said though the state has put in place a task force to monitor and track sub-standard and fake products and their makers, a lot still needed to be done in view of the danger of fake drugs on the society.

The governor, who stated this at the conference of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in Ilorin, called on the national and state assemblies to introduce stiffer penalties for the production and supply of substandard drugs in order to reduce the practice.

 "In our determination to rid our state of fake and counterfeit drugs, government established the Fake and Counterfeit Drugs Task Force and a Drug Abuse Control Committee to tackle the twin problems. 

However, much work remains undone.  I therefore charge members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to ensure that the new drug distribution guideline is implemented in all states of the federation to ensure that cases of fake and counterfeit drugs are reduced to the barest minimum,"he said.  

The governor stressed the need for a synergy between pharmacists and traditional medical practitioners.

 "Although unproven, anecdotal evidence supports the efficacy of traditional herbs. I therefore charge you to conduct rigorous research into herbs to determine their efficacy and safety so that we can all benefit from the therapeutic and economic advantages of alternative medicine,"he said.