A consignment of seized opioids valued at GH¢20 million was destroyed by Ministry of Well being in collaboration with the Meals and Drug Authority (FDA) at Ashaiman, close to Tema, final Friday.
The medicine, which had been believed to be on transit to Niger, had been confiscated following a joint operation by the intelligence and regulatory authorities on the Tema Port.
The illicit medicine, hid in 230 cartons, had been seized on the Tema Port on March 14, this 12 months after a Excessive Court docket ordered for the consignments to be destroyed.
The destruction included 92 cartons of Timaking Tapentadol, 10 cartons of Rahol Tapentadol and 128 cartons of Trafadol that had been in mould of capsules and tablets.
The destruction was carried out within the presence of the Minister of Well being, Mr Kwabena Minta Akandor, the Chief Govt Officer of the FDA, Dr Delese Mimi Darko, and the Registrar of the Tema Excessive Court docket.
Different officers current had been from the Ministry of Environment Science and Expertise, the Narcotics Management Fee, Customs, the Nationwide Investigative Bureau, and Nationwide Safety.
Mr Akandor said that the nation’s ports and borders wouldn’t be allowed for use as transit factors or haven for illicit medicine.
He stated it was the court docket that granted the destruction and chooseed the placement for the destruction, including that the federal government would additional interrogate the importer of the illicit medicine, who shouldn’t be a Ghanaian, in addition to the clearing agent.
Mr Akandor additional famous that the federal government was additionally in contact with the federal government of Niger to establish if it was conscious of the consignment.
He stated the ministry would proceed to wage conflict in opposition to the inflow Opioids within the nation by monitoring the state of affairs in any respect ports and borders.
“We have to defend the youth of this nation who’re the long run leaders from changing into victims of the utilization of those medicine which has critical negative effects,” the minister indicated.
Dr Darko assured of FDA’s resolve to extend vigilance (24 hours a day) in an effort to make sure that such harmful medicine don’t discover its means into the nation.
Opioids are a category of pure, semi-synthetic, and artificial medicine that embody each prescription drugs and unlawful medicine like heroin.
Prescription drugs resembling oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), morphine, codeine, fentanyl, and others are primarily used for the remedy of ache.
In Ghana, they’re referred to as ‘Crimson,’ that are at present been abused by some individuals, sensiblely the youth
FROM LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU, ASHAIMAN
