While registered sanitizer brands in the country were only four before the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease, they now have 68 manufacturers on the market. But, of these only 28 have so far been confirmed for quality. 28 others have failed the quality tests, while 12 more brands have not yet been tested.
The National Drug Authority (NDA) warns the public against
the use of three sanitizer brands – Sanit, Vexesan and Sigma all locally manufactured
for failure to meet quality standards.
According to David Nahamya, the Secretary to the Authority,
the manufacturers have been asked to withdraw their products from the market
immediately because they don’t contain the alcohol content required and therefore
cannot offer any protection against disease-causing pathogens.
Testing of these products according to NDA was based on the
recently adopted World Health
Organisation (WHO) guidelines which stipulate that sanitizers should have 80 per cent of ethanol, diesel as
well as hydrogen peroxide. The eight brands that passed efficacy tests conducted in the period between April 9 to 27 include Chamens, Princess, Avion,
Zest, Covicid, Scoul Instant and Fresam.
The authority’s Principal Regulatory Official
Brenda Kitimbo initially said that sanitizers were supposed to be categorized as drugs by NDA
but with a surge in demand recently, they permitted other manufacturers including
distilleries, cosmetic companies and academic institutions to increase access
to those in need.
But, this came with the challenge of fake products as they started getting complaints from users of the adverse effects they had suffered, something that made
them conduct post-market surveillance for quality.
While registered sanitizer brands in the country were only
four before the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease, they now have 68
manufacturers on the market. But, of these only 28 have so far been confirmed
for quality. 28 others have failed the quality tests, while 12 more brands have not yet been tested.
