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Capital Punishment for Fake Medication
Hadiza Wada, DBA
…October 8, 2011
Capital punishment should be introduced to take out all manufacturers of fake
medication caught in Nigeria; and an equal punishment or worse on those who
connive to import same into the country.
The reason is, such criminals play a key role in the death of multitudes
of innocent citizens and an equally critical role in the failure of the Nigerian
Health system.
(a)
Fake medication manufacturers are in essence murderers, when someone critically
ill buys and take their medication thinking he would wake up feeling better or
healed from his malaise, but actually wakes up dead.
(b)
They also, by pushing fake medication, cause a lot of havoc on others who may
not die instantly, but may be incapacitated for life as a result.
(c)
The third degree of harm is for those, who having taken fake or weak [diluted]
doses, such as in cases of disease that are cured by antibiotics, help empower
the microbes, who survive enough to build resistance to such drugs. That way people become chronic
sufferers of particular diseases, as that medication now becomes useless in
ridding one of that particular illness.
Some aspects of the failure of health care in Nigeria have always baffled me,
until my last visit when some facts begin to emerge. On the surface, you find that
Nigerian hospitals are physically adequate as buildings, and some of them [such
as National Hospital Abuja] are equipped to the teeth with modern and
computerized systems. Even the less
equipped one could compare favorably up and above some neighboring country
hospitals in say Ghana or Niger Republic, but the two countries do not suffer
the same challenges as Nigerian Hospitals.
And while some doctors may also be carrying fake certificates and or
untrained, a vast majority are genuine some even educated and trained abroad. So what is the reason that a vast
majority of Nigerians have to seek the most basic healthcare abroad?
After hearing a lot of friends and relative tell me they are now chronic
sufferers of Malaria, I was baffled.
Up until the mid-eighties when I was living in Nigeria, malaria does not
behave that way. Remember Malaria
was there since the time of our ancestors, for we learn that one of the
challenges Europeans faced when they first set foot on the shores of present day
Nigeria was Malaria. Well Nigeria
is half a century old after the departure of Europeans, and suddenly today even
though medicine has advanced a lot, Malaria is becoming stronger and more
incurable?
It did not take long to figure out one of the most important culprits. And I told myself, how could people
miss this important link? Where are
the people who are being paid huge salaries to protect the public who however
have woefully failed in that regard?
To make matters even worse, corruption and greed has permeated all aspects of
healthcare, from the inception of the process [after stepping into a clinic] to
when you leave it at the end of the visit.
Some critical areas that need special attention include: (i) the laboratories
and (ii) dispensaries. Fake
chemicals, diluted chemicals and most importantly stolen chemicals [by or in
collaboration with the lab technicians] makes the readings and results obtained
equally fake. The result is, a sick
person once again is misdiagnosed.
With a distorted and inhumane attitude that is glaringly dangerous practiced on
innocent people by fake and probably even the genuine pharmaceutical companies,
one wonders how a leader will go to bed at night, while as the people’s guardian
earning exorbitant salary, he has failed to do anything to protect their lives
and wellbeing.
People marvel at the high buildings and mansions built by certain people
overnight across the country, when we do not know them to be working any
credible jobs that add to the community or economy. Or the huge bank accounts and or
capitals that you find everywhere, unparalleled by other groups across the
country. Well such criminal schemes
practiced under the eyes of our compromised leadership are partially to blame. In essence, you have a cabal of
people reaping benefits from the blood, sweat, incapacitations and consequent
deaths of multitudes of other citizens without any constraints or hindrance.
Capital punishment in the law books are reserved for those who commit
premeditated murder. I can equally
argue credibly, that the actions of fake drug manufacturers, some genuine
pharmaceutical companies that make diluted drugs, fake drug importers, expired
drug importers etc. constitute premeditated murder. If capital punishment was made under
the divine commandment of “an eye for an eye” then these hardened criminals
should be shot in public squares. It is that serious a crime.
Henceforth, all legislative arms of government national and state should embark
on a rigorous campaign of ridding their society of fake medication manufacturers
and or importers. An executive
order needs to be issued by the President to check the menace right now, just as
the national and state assemblies embark on the enactment of an equally serious
law that will not only deal with the menace but will act as a deterrent to
anyone who might be thinking of joining that heinous crime.
(c) The Optimist Voice. All Rights Reserved.
