The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has ordered the recall of a batch of locally manufactured Deleject disposable needles after white particles were discovered inside the products. The regulator said the contamination was first flagged through a consumer complaint, prompting an immediate nationwide quarantine of the affected batch.
In Public Alert No. 042/2026, NAFDAC identified the batch as Deleject Disposable Needles, Batch No. 240605, and warned healthcare professionals, distributors, and retailers to halt distribution and use. The agency emphasized that the presence of whitish particulate matter poses potential risks to patient safety and urged the public to report any adverse experiences linked to the product.
The recall underscores NAFDAC’s vigilance in safeguarding public health and highlights the importance of consumer feedback in detecting product defects. Stakeholders across the healthcare supply chain have been advised to comply fully with the recall directive to prevent harm.
In its directive, NAFDAC ordered that the affected batch be pulled from use with immediate effect. Hospitals, pharmacies, patent medicine vendors, distributors and retailers have been instructed to quarantine and stop distributing or using any needles from Batch 240605, while healthcare professionals have been told to inspect existing stock and report any suspected defects or adverse events linked to the product.
Members of the public already in possession of the affected batch have been advised to stop using it immediately and return it either to their point of purchase or to the nearest NAFDAC office.
The agency said it has also activated its enforcement machinery nationwide, directing all zonal and state offices to carry out surveillance to track down how far the affected batch has spread through the distribution chain and to take appropriate regulatory action where it turns up.
The alert lands with particular weight given Deleject’s place in Nigeria’s healthcare supply chain. The brand is manufactured by HMA Medical Ltd, one of a small number of domestic producers that the Federal Ministry of Health formally endorsed in 2024, when it directed all tertiary hospitals nationwide to source their needles and syringes exclusively from NAFDAC-approved local manufacturers — a policy explicitly designed to boost domestic production and reduce reliance on imports.
The implication of this is that Deleject needles are not a fringe product but one of the names federal hospitals were actively steered toward using, raising the stakes on how quickly the contaminated batch can be traced and pulled from circulation.
Particulate contamination in injectable medical devices is treated as a serious safety concern globally, since foreign material introduced into the body via injection can trigger local irritation, infection, or more serious complications depending on the substance involved and the route of administration. NAFDAC has not yet disclosed the identity of the whitish material or confirmed how many units of the batch have been distributed.
The regulator is urging healthcare professionals and consumers who encounter suspected defects or adverse events tied to the product to report them directly to NAFDAC.
