Check Fake or Original drugs by sms in Nigeria

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday August 3, 2012 12:58:50:

Nowadays, gsm phones are no longer just been used for making voice calls or chatting alone. It can also be used to check for original drugs after having purchased them from a pharmacy or local drug store(chemist).

Nigeria has a high problem of fake drugs and a lot of people are drinking fake malarial and typhoid drugs without ever recovering. Original drugs are meant to heal and not make your malaria resistant so why go for fake?

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has introduced a security measure called Mobile Authentication Service(MAS) and it is an sms service that allows you to confirm if a drug is original or not.

Actually, not all drugs have been integrated into this verification service as I see it is targeted on some anti-malarial and anti-biotic drugs.

Specifically, you can check for drugs like:
- Ampiclox: anti-biotic
- Lonart: anti-maleria

How to check if drugs are original
The drugs that have been integrated into this sms service normally come with a scratch-able panel called MAS panel and it's just like a recharge card pin coated area that can be scratched off to reveal a 10 digit MAS code.

With the MAS code, you can then:
- Send an SMS to 38353 to confirm it is genuine
- Expect a reply in a few seconds
- If confirmed, then it is an original

What this implies
It simply means that for one to be safe from the menace of fake drugs, it's probably better to stick to drugs that carry the MAS cover and that you can verify by sms before consuming. Life is precious so why waste it?