A quality assurance expert in Nakuru has asked residents to be on the alert over fake medicines being supplied by different pharmaceuticals.
Addressing traders at Biashara Street on Tuesday after an inspection exercise within the town, county Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) assistant director Peter Ndisi called for caution while using products from different pharmacies.
The call comes barely a month after the Kenya Pharmaceutical Association raised the red flag over an influx of counterfeit products in the local market.
Ndisi expressed concern at the rate at which the consumption of cheap products in the country had led to the emergence of backdoor companies, which are notorious for the supply of substandard products.
“Such companies have fake stickers that are almost the same as ours so if you are not keen you cannot notice the difference, that’s why majority of unsuspecting customers end up being duped,” he said.
He cited products that are usually called generic by many attendants in pharmacies even though they are pocket-friendly.
“Cheap is expensive, why go for something cheap and end up spending a lot on treating a bigger problem later? he posed.
Aside from the medicines, the quality assurance experts urged residents to use quality products to help ensure that fake and substandard ones don’t get market.