By Sallieu S. Kanu
The Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone in a statement dated 20th February has warned the public on the use of marketed herbal products including Coco Samba, Oga Abeg, Olekoko Akson Bitters and Good Time Natural Herbal Formula, as they have been found to contain high content of Sildenafil Citrate
Overdose of Sildenafil Citrate has the tendency to cause serious side effects like significant drop in blood pressure which may cause life threatening conditions like visual disturbances, headache, dizziness, chest pain, painful and prolonged erection which may cause permanent damage to the penis, according to the health authorities.
Sildenafil Citrate is a prescribed treatment for erectile dysfunction and pulmonary artery hypertension.
“The Pharmacy Board would like to inform the public that further laboratory analysis conducted at the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of Ghana, on the said product confirmed that each bottle of COCO SAMBA contains HEAVY DOSE (193mg) of Sildenafil Citrate as an adulterant as compared to the usual prescribed dose of 50 -100mg.”
The Board said that “laboratory analyses were also conducted on the following products as listed below and were found to contain Sildenafil Citrate of varying strengths: Olekoko Akson Bitters, Oga Abeg, Good Time Natural Herbal Formula etc.”
Pharmacy Board urges the public to stop the consumption of these harmful products and report any individual or institution found marketing these products.