A patient who has prescription to buy Coatem for malaria may be charged D100 in one drug store, D200 in another, D300 elsewhere and D450m in yet another drug store, and the patients are beginning to experience different effects in consuming these different brands of malaria drugs. This is a case that the Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission should investigate in collaboration with the health ministry and the Medicine Control Agency to protect the consumer.

If a drug is cheaper and effective, why import expensive drugs? On the other hand, if a drug is cheaper but ineffective why should it be in the market? Regulation is designed to protect the consumer. Affordability of drugs is what a good government should assure. When drugs are unaffordable a health system suffers a great damage and death occurs because of poverty.

Foroyaa suggests a probe into the kind of drugs available in the market for curing malaria. The GCCPC should move concretely to find out the range in the prices of drugs for the cure of malaria and engage the agencies to test and give results on whether cheaper ones provide the same cure as more expensive ones.