GIVEN its challenges addressing approximately 600 importers for its seven inspectors, the Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) is working to collaborate closely with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in order to effectively carry out its mandate.For years, the GD-FDD has faced challenges in undertaking its work as a result a lack of human resources and Director of the agency, Marlan Cole noted at an importation awareness session at the Grand Coastal Inn on Tuesday morning that the body cannot physically undertake aspects of inspection, including those relative to prescription drugs and cosmetics because of a lack of staff.

Under the circumstances, he said that “we are inundated, we are subjected in the department to look at some (documents) which are forged and we are sometimes flooded and sometimes we cannot go out to do inspections”. He added that the agency is severely understaffed. To this end, he said that the session on Tuesday, where almost all the staff of the GA-FDD was present along with several GRA staff that the two bodies “ought to work in collaboration with each other.”

He said that the discussions on Tuesday centered on importation of goods including food, cosmetics and drugs. “Ultimately the health of the nation is the wealth of the nation but the aspects of the things we are dealing with are relative to consumption”, he said. He noted that the value and quality of drugs and cosmetics must be ascertained before being placed on the local market.

Cole said that the GA-FDD is staffed by 18 analysts, seven of whom are inspectors and they operate in 5 laboratories, including the food chemistry lab, drug chemistry lab and the water chemistry lab. ”They (the labs) are really supposed to be functioning in such a way that eventually should we flag any particular container, any one of those labs should be able to pronounce,“ Cole said.

He said that the mandate of the department is set out in the two pieces of legislation, the Food and Drug Act of 1971 and Food and Drug Regulation of 1977. He noted that the legislation caters for the future of the agency. “Archaic as the age of the piece of legislation may be, but those who sat and crafted this piece of legislation were way ahead of the time relative to ensuring that we are protected from substandard food , cosmetics and medical devices”, Cole added.

He noted that the first line of defence utilised by the department is documentation, namely a free sale /health certificate. However, he said that there are occasions when importers may attempt to trick the system. “Some people come to us with a free sale document from November lasting until December next year “, he said, noting that many importers would at times photocopy the documents.

Cole explained that the importer would have to ensure that the prescribed documents cover the product which has to be freely sold and subject to regulatory oversight in the country of production before it is placed on the local market.

“We would be unable to examine every container – do an analysis of every product “, Cole said, noting that “it would be virtually impossible so our first line of defense is to ensure the importer has the current documents”, he added

The importer would have to have registered with the GA-FDD and Cole noted that only 50% of importers are actually on the department’s register. While not naming the entity, Cole said that only one company in Guyana presents importation documents, which are readily in order. “If you come to the department and your document is not right, we say request a waiver from the country that the product is shipped from “, he said. However, in many cases persons would abuse the measure put in place, “and so have problems with authenticity of products,” he added.