Those who are following the recent development on the new herbal drink in town called Coco Samba have criticized the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau completely misunderstanding their mandates for which they were created by an Act of Parliament.
The Pharmacy Board has in a press release stated that Coco Samba is not legally registered with the board, while the Standards Bureau has claimed that they are not aware about the rampant sale of the herbal product in the country.
Consumers of Coco Samba was expecting the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone first of all called for health authorities and regulators to conduct a proper medical check on the contents of the said herbal Coco Samba before taking hasty stringent action as it has already done.
Regrettably also, the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) in its press statement insisted that it never received nor tested samples of Coco Samba, Oga Abeg E Don Do or Jakombo herbal products in their laboratories.
The release stated that ‘We are therefore surprised to learn that certain individuals are claiming to have submitted samples of the said products which have conformed to prescribed national standards at Sierra Leone Standards Bureau’.
The institution further that, although the Bureau would have cherished the opportunity, as always to be of service to importers and dealers of not only Coco Samba, Oga Abeg E Don Do and Jakombo herbal products, the conduct of laboratory tests on cosmetics, drugs and medicinal products fall within the remits of the Pharmacy Board.
‘We therefore advice the dealers of Coco Samba, Oga Abeg E Don Do, Jekonmo and other related products to liaise with Pharmacy Board for the conduct of the required test, as they are the competent authority, with the statutory mandate to deal with matters relating to cosmetics, drugs and other medicinal products’ the release stated.
They argued that Standards Bureau can only provide them with the required standards against which the test can be done, if requested.
Given the conflicting argument between these two vital public institutions concerning the sale of these foreign products in the country and their quality, has raised serious concern among the unsuspecting population more so when it has to do with the health of people.
The situation is really shameful because these two institutions have just made people to believe they do not worth their salt.
They people have accused both the Standards Bureau and the Pharmacy Board of negligence thus messed-up their roles of ensuring the safety of Sierra Leoneans.
“Thousands of Sierra Leoneans have consumed and still consuming these Coco Samba and Oga Abeg E Don Do, Jekonmo without standards test on for quality on humans,” one Musa Kamara said, while expressing fear for side effect.
For over four months now, the Coco Samba has been sold across the nation and the Standards Bureau and Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone are still claiming innocence of its importation quality.
“On a daily basis we are seen lots of drugs marketers inside buses, poda poda vehicles and in populated communities selling contraband or substandard drugs and almost all of these drug peddlers are not medical practitioners less to talk of being qualified,” one Margret Sandy said, describing them as mere danger to people while the Pharmacy Board ad SL Standards Bureau with complicity sit by and watch.
It’s against this background that people have urged President Bio to have the heads of these two institutions set aside, assess their capability and to audit their performances for inefficiency.