The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has sent a stern warning to Manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers against production of fake protective products to fight coronavirus. Manufacturers are admonished not to take undue advantage of the shortage of protective products used in the prevention of the spread of Covid-19 disease to sell fake and substandard products to the general public.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the FDA also advised the general public to ensure that all hand sanitizers bought are duly registered by the authority and not expired.
In addition to this, the statement further adds that the FDA is also fast tracking the registrations of more hand sanitizers to make more of the product available in the market to mitigate the shortage.
It further stated that a list of approved hand sanitizers has been published on the authority’s website and social media platforms, adding that the said list will periodically be updated as when more products are approved.
“In order to safeguard utmost protection of the general public, the Authority has increased its markets surveillance countrywide to ensure compliance”, the statement read.
Shortage of hand sanitizers
Following the announcement of Ghana’s first recorded cases of the coronavirus disease, there has been a hot demand for hand sanitizers in the markets, with some retailer taking advantage of the situation to increase the price of the product.
What has exacerbated the situation the more is the increase in Ghana’s recorded cases from an initial two, from last week Thursday, to seven as at yesterday, March 17, 2020.
This has resulted in the shortage of hand sanitizers in the markets.
To stem the situations, President Akuffo-Addo met with the captains of industry few days ago to find out how best they could be supported to produce more of the protective products that are badly needed for the prevention of the spread of the disease.
A numbers of individuals and business have seen the opportunities presented by the demand for the hand sanitizers and have ventured into its production.
But most of these products have not been approved by the FDA, hence the caution to such people to desist from milking the panic-stricken public.
