THE Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-Davao Region warned about counterfeit medicines circulating around the market as they seized P93 million worth of unregistered and fake products in the country from 2016 to 2018.
“The fight against counterfeit medicines is the fight of everybody,” FDA Mindanao cluster director-Davao Deborah Legaspi said on an interview with SunStar Davao Friday, November 23, adding that the public should be vigilant in consuming medicines for it may worsen health status or worst, may cause death.
She also said that it may be hard to detect fake medicines but they encourage the public to report suspicious products so that the FDA could take appropriate measures.
Meanwhile, Legal Services Support Center officer-in-charge director 3 Attorney Michelle Anne Lapuz said that this year's annual celebration focused on fighting counterfeit medicines through the coordination of law enforcement agencies, local government units, other concerned establishments, private organizations and the public.
“Yung illegal na gamot, madali yan malaman kasi alam natin na illegal pero yung legal na peke pala at kulang sa bisa, yun ang nag-proliferate ngayon sa market,” Lapuz said yesterday.
Lapuz also said that the decentralization of FDA offices will be of help to bring closer to the public the services of FDA.
FDA conducted information dissemination, lectures and seminars, among other efforts to increase awareness of the public about fake products, especially drugs and medicines.
“Yung fight against counterfeit, hindi lang sya fight ng FDA. It is everybody's concern,” Legaspi said.
“Kailangan i-report nyo talaga ang mga suspicious products. Kung ikaw ay gumagamit ng fake jeans, walang mangyayari sayo. Pero kung counterfeit medicines ang inumin mo, baka lumala pa ang sakit mo,” she added. (LHC)