Contraband drugs flood Cameroon markets, despite Gov’t fight against

The health sector in Cameroon and the world at large is faced with the inflation of contraband drugs in markets, hospitals, streets and pharmacies.

Despite Government efforts to check the importation and sale of illicit drugs in the country, contraband drugs in pharmacies and streets remain a major scourge to the population and society at large.

Man is vulnerable to some diseases and infections, causing illnesses such as; malaria, typhoid, stomach disorder, headache, among others.

Most inhabitants turn to look on to the ‘local chemists’ who sell drugs on the streets, rather than going to the hospitals.

They say going to the hospital is quite costly. 

Speaking to this reporter, Elizabeth Shuri, said roadside drugs are cheaper.

“I prefer buying drugs from the ‘chemists’ on the roadside, because, it is less expensive and saves huge sums of money, which I ought to spend in hospitals for so called consultation and tests,” she said.

Another inhabitant, Edmond Fru, said he prefers getting drugs from the ‘local chemist’, because, most hospitals, nowadays, focus more on selling their drugs, rather than treating patients.

In an exclusive interview, the Administrator of the Southwest Regional Fund for Health Promotion,   Ngondo  Musenja,  warned inhabitants of the Region to beware of counterfeit, stolen and illicit medications which put their health and life at risk.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, estimates that up to 30 percent of medicines available in developing countries are likely to be imitations.