Worried about the chaotic system of drug
distribution in the country, Pharmacists under
the auspices of Association of Community
Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, have urged the
newly appointed Director General of the National
Agency for Food and Drug Administration and
Control, NAFDAC, as matter of urgency
holistically put in place standard distribution
chain try.
NAFDAC
The Lagos Chairman of ACPN, Pharm Biola Paul-
Ozieh, who spoke in Lagos, also decried the
continuous postponement of the implementation
of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines,
saying, the postponement is way too much by
the Federal Ministry of Health”.
Paul –Ozieh while speaking at the Association’s
the 3rd community pharmacist’s Continuing
Medical Education, CME, tagged: ‘Community
Pharmacist: Healthcare Interventions for National
Development’ in Lagos explained that the
distribution system of drugs in the country was
bad which has resulted to the country ranking in
drug index of187 out of 190 nations.
“This alarming, is alarming. We want to
collaborate with NAFDAC on prevention,
detection and response to fortified medical
products and substandard medical products.
This is the tenth time it was postponed as a
result; drugs are being abused on a daily basis.
“We would want the new director general of
NAFDAC, Prof, Mojisola Adeyeye, to look at every
aspect of the distribution holistically. We
address the uncoordinated drug distribution
system in country.
She said the CME programme is designed to
update community pharmacists on the current
trends in pharmaceutical practice and equipped
them with practice skills and business acumen
for operating successful business enterprises.
Speaking, the National Chairman, ACPN, Dr.
Alkali Albert Kelong said the nation is yet to
achieve result in the war against fake and
substandard drugs due to activities of corrupt
officials.
Kelong tasked the new DG to sanitise the drug
market to take effect in the agency.
He also encouraged NAFDAC to up their games
in the fight against fake drugs by ensuring that
Points of entry must be checked to curtail inflow
of fake drugs and make sure the laboratories are
in good form to test the quality of the products
and embark on the post market survey.
On her part, the keynote speaker, who is also
the Managing Director and principal consultant
in Fensyl MHP consulting limited, Pharm.
Osarenti Jaiyeola who spoke on the role of
pharmacists, said they strive to stop drug abuse
in the country.
According to her, a pharmacist should not just
be a distributer, a person that prescribe drug
but rather get involved in counselling.
