DEADLY MEDICATIONS... GREED KNOWS NO BOUNDS

There is a raging problem affecting health systems in most African nations tipping to the point of becoming a serious pandemic if interventions are not stepped up. This problem involves the counterfeit drugs business which is estimated to be worth around £46billion euros. Africa seems to be the hardest hit, thanks to porous borders, inefficient institutions to review the medications imported into our respective countries and apathy to the problem. Countries of origin for most of these fake drugs are China and India. Aside people losing their lives as a result of being treated with these fake medications, there is another worrying aspect to the problem; certain serious illnesses are becoming drug resistant because these counterfeit drugs contain inactive ingredients.

Unfortunately, our country – Ghana – is one of those being hit hard with this growing problem as human greed continues to trump conscience – some of our local pharmaceutical companies are engaged in this business. Sometimes one can only sit down and wonder what humanity has become. Do we still value human lives? Do we still know its worth?
News broke during the past week about three Ghanaian companies supplying fake drugs to hospitals and pharmacies throughout the country. The drugs in question were Oxytocin, Ergometrine and Quinine and I initially thought the news article could be a mistake because those three medicines are one of the essentials in our health system. Not that other drugs are less important but these are the basic lifelines currently in health delivery, which makes the the thought of someone making fake versions of them even more harrowing.

This incident is sadly, not rare. We hear of stories such as this constantly where the Food and Drugs Board issues warnings to avoid fake medications alongside hearing reports of arrests being made yet, it appears people are still not deterred from the practice. It also seem we are losing the fight against counterfeit drugs as it’s been estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that thousands in the West African Sub-region lose their lives yearly from taking these counterfeit medications.

Quinine is an anti-malarial drug and usually the choice for treating severe malaria cases. Ergometrine is a drug used in obstetrics and is meant for smoothening the muscle tissue of the uterus (womb) so as to reduce blood flow. Essentially, it facilitates the delivery of the placenta after childbirth and also prevents postpartum bleeding. Oxytocin is also a medication in obstetrics which aids the cervical dilation during labour and also helps curtail postpartum hemorrhage.


Among the the Millennium Development Goals, the eight aims agreed globally to be achieved by 2015 in tackling developmental challenges in countries including Ghana, is the improvement of maternal health. Meanwhile the current maternal mortality rate in Ghana is 350 deaths out of 100,000 live births.
The major causes of maternal mortality in Ghana includes postpartum hemorrhage (after birth bleeding) where postpartum hemorrhage can be defined as the loss of greater than 500ml of blood following vaginal delivery or 1000ml of blood following caesarean section and is the number one cause of maternal death in our country.
Other causes include pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, abortion complications, lack of access to health facilities and skilled attendants, and inadequate antenatal care. High maternal mortality rate for a developing country has economic implications as these women form part of the work force and contribute to economic development and it is very sad that child birth, which is a natural process and essential in continuing our existence is claiming lives. Therefore to learn our hospitals are being supplied with fake drugs which are meant for preventing some of these deaths is appalling.

What comes to mind is the thought of a laboring mother after going through the excruciating process of child birth being given fake Oxytocin or Ergometrine, unbeknown to the well-meaning midwife or doctor. While these health professionals think the medication administered would help in the delivery of the placenta and stop postpartum hemorrhage, they find out too late about the non-effectiveness of the drug making the woman bleed to death, leaving the midwife or doctor distraught and wondering “what went wrong? “What did I not do right?”

It’s really sickening that human greed knows no bound and is being directed to our health system. Yet, we all know how this harrowing story would end – a committee would be set up to investigate the incident and we shall be informed about their findings. But my question is, will we go the extra mile of hauling these pharmaceutical companies involved in this evil act to court and prosecute them accordingly? – That is for you and I to follow up in the coming days. But, I sure do hope justice is served because there is too much blood on the hands of those behind this evil.