VIAGRA HORROR!

By Jajah Coulibaly

A CHOCOLATE laced with sildenafil, popularly known as Viagra, is being sold at a busy supermarket in Lusaka’s Makeni area which is owned by a named Lebanese where the product is accessed over the counter. 

The snack, sold at K25 and bitter in taste like that of strong coffee, is packaged in a box branded ‘Q7 Chocolate’ and the rest of the wording in Turkish, a language that almost Zambians do not understand.

And Consumer Competition and Protection Commission (CCPC) Director General Brian Lingela told The Scoop that the Commission was not aware of the said product and that investigations would soon commence.

Mr. Lingela said it was the job of the CCPC to always protect the interests of consumers against unfair trading and competition, especially with defective or harmful products.

Meanwhile, Medical Quality Healthcare Zambia (MQHZ) Executive Director Quince Mwabu said it was unfortunate that such products with potential health complications could find themselves in supermarkets.

Dr. Mwabu explained that sildenafil was a very serious drug that needed to be sold to adults and clearly labelled, unlike the chocolate that could be accessed even by kids at an open counter.

“Kids in general like sweet things like chocolate and when you give them money, it means they can buy that unknowingly. That itself can cause serious health complications especially with the heart and can sometimes even lead to heart failure,” Dr. Mwabu said.

He said the country’s borders were so porous that any substandard product that was not of acceptable quality could easily find itself on the Zambian market and be sold to customers illegally without authorities knowing.

He called on the Zambia Medicines and Regulatory Agency (ZAMRA) to scale up its monitoring systems and take up such matters that seemed small but were of public interest.

Sildenafil is a popular drug worldwide used to treat erectile dysfunction by increasing blood flow to the penis during sexual stimulation to trigger an erection.

Sildenafil has adverse effects on the human body and the common ones are headaches, dizziness, rashes, heartburn, diarrhoea, nausea, nosebleeds, numbness, tingling in the arms, hands, feet, or legs and pain in muscles, back, arms, or legs.