Counterfeit drugs-A national disgrace

About a fortnight ago, a vigilant citizen from Ghana, brought suspicious looking samples of a medicine “ Coartem” , supposed to have been manufactured by  drug manufacturer,‘Novartis’, to an office of Ghana Foods and Drug Board(FDB) . After due tests, FDB confirmed that the drug was lacking any active ingredient and was presumably counterfeit. ‘Coartem’ is a very widely used drug to fight malaria in most of the developing countries. Imagine administering a tablet of this drug, to a near and dear one who is down with fever, only to find that the medicine is having no effect.