The National Drug Authority (NDA) has intensified operations on illegal operational herbalists who have made it a norm to sell unregistered drugs and making illegal communications and advertisements of such products using Megaphones commonly referred to as Bizindalo.
The four different operations saw NDA apprehend illegal herbalists in areas of; Busega, Kalerwe, and Wandegeya in Kampala and Nansana in Wakiso district.
Abiaz Rwamwiri, the NDA Head of Public Relations said the enforcement operations targeted megaphones that do promotions of drugs illegally, those hawking drugs and staged mobile vans.
“It’s very illegal to promote drugs that have not been verified by NDA this contravenes section 33 of the NDA Policy and Authority Act which requires anyone that is going to promote drugs, their information should have been verified by NDA to protect the public from misleading drug promotion messages,” he said.
“The premises we visited today were in very unpleasant condition, some in slums, some of the attendants didn’t have required qualifications to dispense drugs,” Rwamwiri added.
By press time, NDA had closed 16 herbal drug outlets and their operators were arrested.
Rwamwiri further said that megaphones and some of the drugs have been impounded, these are exhibits, the megaphones, CDs, Flash Disks, and the amplifiers that have been used to put out information, and all the suspects have been taken to respective police stations.
Amongst the impounded drugs include; Superman, Candida Drugs, Go Cough Drugs, and Diabetes Drugs, among others from Muwonya African Herbal Research Clinic in the Busega market.
The operation come a few months after the public complained that some of the advertised drugs do not perform the alleged function.
NDA in Partnership with other government agencies including the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) banned adverts for herbal medicines on media platforms unless they have been approved by all three.
These agreed that there was a growing number of advertisements for products claiming nutritional and therapeutic (healing) value on television, radio, and social media.
The three government agencies have further agreed to coordinate regarding information sharing and issuance of coordinated directives, for effective enforcement of the policies.
“NDA has the mandate of ensuring that the public accesses safe, efficacious, and good quality drugs including the information that is put out to the public in regard to drug promotion. We also call upon the public to report in confidentially those people who are contravening and selling, advertising drugs illegally,” Rwamwiri said.
In addition, Section 5 (1) to (5) in the Food and Drugs Act, Cap 278 prohibits the false labeling or advertisement of food or drug.
In this regard, the Executive Director of Consumer Education Trust, Richard Henry Kimera also urged media houses to ask for approval by both NDA and UNBS before they take on any products for advertisement.
