The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said the acquisition of Documents and operational licenses to produce hand sanitizers is now done within 48hours due to the outbreak of COVID-19 deadly disease.
It has also reduced costs involved in the acquisition of documents drastically which is less than ¢300.00 now to Companies and Individuals in the Country who want to produce hand sanitizers to Ghanaians for protection.
Mr. Emmanuel Nkrumah, Head of Cosmetics and Household Chemical Substance Department of FDA, who announced this said since the pandemic COVID-19, over 80 License has been given to Companies and individuals to produce more Hand Sanitizers.
He advised the public to only use the Authority’s registered hand sanitizers, which were effective against the COVID-19 Virus and appealed to the public to check the expiry dates on hand sanitizers before buying them.
A study by the University for Development Studies (UDS) has shown that 54 percent of hand sanitizers on the market have no potency over micro-organisms.
The research also showed 43 percent of the sanitizers had very little potency over the organisms while just three percent were effective against the test strains.
The UDS researchers also found that seven out of eight samples of methylated spirits had no potency against their test strains. The study showed ‘Akpeteshie,’ a locally brewed alcohol and some other alcoholic beverages had no power over their test strains.
Microbiologist at the Department of Biotechnology Dr. Courage Kosi Setsoafia Saba said 48 samples of Alcohol-based hand sanitizers, antiseptics, liquid soaps with antibacterial properties were purchased from five cities: Koforidua, Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, and Bolgatanga to test its efficacy level against micro-organisms.
He gave the break down as 28 Alcohol-based hand sanitizers, eight methylated spirits, six Alcoholic beverages and six locally produced Akpeteshie from different bars were tested using the Agar Diffusion Test.
Dr. Setsoafia said of the 28 alcohol-based hand sanitizers, six were produced in Ghana, 17 were imported eight from China, three from the UK, two from Ivory Coast, two from Indonesia, one from Italy and USA and five had no country of origin for the test.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
