The Kwara Government on Friday inaugurated a 17-member task force to combat fake and counterfeit drugs in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Issa Kayode, inaugurated the task force in  Ilorin.

He said that the menace of fake and counterfeit drugs was responsible for prolonged hospital admission, sickness, loss of capital, development of other infections and sometimes loss of lives.

According to him, the task force has the responsibility to visit drug manufacturing companies, retailers, patent medicine shops and even the open market.

Kayode warned fake, counterfeit and substandard drug peddlers to desist from such trade, adding that drug hawking was  prohibited by the Federal Ministry of Health.

The commissioner said that the task force comprised representatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the  National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Other members of the  task force are representatives  the Nigeria  Police, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)  and the Ministries of Health and Justice.

He said the task force would be headed by the Director of  Pharmaceutical Services in the state, Mrs Risikat Lawal.

Responding on behalf of her colleagues, Lawal  pledged to justify the confidence reposed in them by ending the sale, circulation and consumption of unauthorised drugs  in the state. (NAN)