There is a great sense of mistrust about anything coming from Khartoum, from the bottled water to salt and pepper. The citizens of Juba, especially those who came in after the peace don’t buy “Jalaba” things. They are turning to anything East African, prefering “Rowenzori” water to “Crystal” or Safia” from Khartoum! This paranoi is something that is quite evident. But what has that got to do with medicine? It is getting into drugs now . . .
In all my life, I have never seen a real life Masaai warrior from Kenya, but I was shocked to see one in Juba the other day. Just outside my clinic in Konyokonyo market, there was this tall guy, wearing only a red blanket wrapped around his body, carrying a small bag and peddling some things in his hands. It turned out this guy is selling some traditional Masaai medicine, wrapped up nicely and labled too! It reminds me of the Chinese coming all the way from China to sell small boxes of “vics” or whatever in the streets of Khartoum!
However, it got me thinking: if the Masaai man can get into Juba, set up a stall and start selling drugs, what is the bigger picture like? The world is amassed with counterfeit drugs, sold cheaply, but could threaten lives. With the new porous borders of south Sudan, lacking any controls, let alone regulation of medical imports, we are in for a big trouble. You can now find drugs in Juba that are said to “be stronger” than the ones brought from Khartoum! Just go to custom market!
We need to set up that body, like the “Central Drug Stores” that be our own FDA to control sale of drugs, license pharmacies and drug stores, analyse new drug imports for quality, etc. By the way, FDA is the American Food and Drug Administration.
It will be a disaster if my patients use my prescriptions to get fake drugs and die. Am I not implicated, by proxy? Think about it.
