Public warned against buying drugs from street vendors

The public has been strongly advised against the growing practice of buying drugs from street vendors in order to avoid serious health implications.

It has become a practice for some people to buy drugs from street vendors and others selling in commercial vehicles instead of going to either the hospitals or registered pharmacies. The street vendors usually dispense different types of drugs and display total ignorance of the functions of the drugs yet go ahead to sell them to the unsuspecting public at reduced prices.

Pharmacist Priscilla Dogbe of Ernest Chemists who was contacted by the dailyEXPRESS about the dangers of that practice said most of the drugs sold on the streets do not meet their temperature requirements, exposing the buyer to great danger.

“Temperature levels of the drugs vary. There are certain drugs that need to be kept in a fridge, some too in the room while others need not to be exposed to the sun else they degenerate, reducing their efficacy level,” she explained.

Ms. Dogbe says it is important for people to get their drugs from either the hospital or licensed chemical sellers, and blamed the current trend on the relaxed nature of the law, which she said is not effective enough to halt this practice.

Recently, the Western Regional Drug Information Pharmacist, Barbara Yankey, advised sick persons not to purchase medicine without the requisite information.

She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sekondi that, the practice makes it difficult for people to obtain the right information about the drugs especially when they had expired.