Drugs adverts ban receives positive response-FDB

Kumasi, Sept. 19, GNA - The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) says its temporary ban on drug advertisements in the media is receiving a favourable response.

It says drug adverts in the radio and the print media, especially, have reduced to between 80 to 90 per cent, since the ban was imposed on September 1.

Mr Yaw Kwarteng, Senior Regulatory Officer of FDB, said some television stations were flouting the ban.

He said the reduction indicated that all stakeholders were concerned about the situation and the need to protect public health. He was speaking at a public forum organised by the FDB in Kumasi on Tuesday to discuss the temporary ban and the way forward. Marketing and programmes managers of radio stations in the region, herbal medicine practitioners, pharmacists, public health officials, security personnel and road transport associations attended it. Mr Kwarteng said the public fora, which were being organised throughout the country, were to solicit views from the various stakeholders on the ban and how to address the issue.

He said the period of the ban would be determined by the cooperation the Board would receive from all stakeholders. Mr Kwarteng said the Board would no longer compromise on its resolve to control the menace and would not hesitate to reintroduce the ban anytime it became necessary.

Mr Joseph Bennie, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regional Zonal manager of the FDB, said the ban did not mean that manufacturers should not sell their products.

He said uncontrolled advertisement of drugs in the media posed a serious danger to public health and urged radio stations to give little thought to the health of the public.

Mr Bennie cautioned radio presenters against over exaggeration and said in the advertisement of drugs, there should be no room for exaggeration, half-truth, outright lie and unsubstantiated claims.

Some of the participants, especially the herbal drug producers, said the ban was an attempt by the FDB to push them out of business since they could not sell their products without advertising them. They said doctors in the country do not prescribe herbal medicine and the only way to sell their products was to advertise them in the media.