Covidex: 3 arrested for selling fake Covid-19 treatment drug

The National Drug Authority has arrested three suspected to be selling fake Covidex.

The three who are being detained at Wandegeya Police Station were apprehended with over 300 bottles of fake Covidex during an operation by NDA that swept the five divisions of Kampala district.

The suspects include Daniel Lule- a Clinical medical officer at St Peter’s Clinic Nansana, Samuel Waswa-a barber at Brotherhood Saloon in Wandegeya and Allan Kaitala working with Softex Agro-Chemicals East African Limited situated at Container Village.

“We confiscated 300 bottles of fake Covidex which we found them selling from their homes. All this was successful after an intelligence which we got and successfully nabbed them,” James William Tamale, the NDA Greater Kampala Regional Manager told the media on Friday.

The suspects will be charged as per section 14 (3) of the National Drug Policy and Authority (NDA & A) Act Cap 206.

” Their file has already been forwarded to the State Attorney and they will soon be aligned before Courts of law,” Tamale added.

Recently, NDA approved Covidex as a supporting treatment for viral infections including COVID-19.

And over the weekend during an interview with Capital FM Desrt Island Discs , Prof Patrick Ogwang, the brain behind the herbal medicine revealed that President Yoweri Museveni phone called him and promised to extend a financial boost towards his project.

“I told him I want security especially for the factory and for myself. I also told him I want the capacity to expand production. He told me he would connect me to Paul Lokech and Madam Nakyobe (Lucy) to handle the security and financing. He kept calling me every day to check on the progress,” Ogwang said.

He also noted that he is already manufacturing, producing and bringing to the market a minimum of 30,000 20mls bottles of his Covidex a day.

All this is being done from his Entebbe Road plot/small piece of land located in the Akright City which he converted to facilitate mass production of the vastly-demanded Covidex product.

The 48 year old further disclosed that he is humane and alive to the fact that majority of his fellow Ugandans are financially stressed which is why he is strictly selling to all NDA-approved pharmacies countrywide at at little as Shs5,000 per bottle.