Community pharmacists back FG on drug distribution guidelines

By Chioma Obinna
Contrary to views of some stakeholders in the pharmaceutical
sector on the newly introduced National Drug Distribution
Guidelines, NDDG, by the Federal Government, Community
Pharmacists are backing the Federal Government drug
guidelines, insisting that, the implementation of the guidelines
would eliminate counterfeit medicines and restore sanity in the
chaotic drug distribution chain.
The pharmacists under the auspices of Association of
Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Lagos State branch,
also advised other stakeholders to embrace the full
implementation of the guidelines as it would provide quality
medicines to Nigerians.
Speaking during its Public Sensitisation and Awareness
campaign on ‘Drug Use’ for motor park operators at the popular
under bridge Ojuelegba, Lagos, to mark this year’s Pharmacy
Week, the Lagos State Chairman of ACPN, Pharm. Biola Paul-
Ozieh dismissed insinuations that the implementation would
increase the cost of medicines.
According to her, the NDDG has come to stay and gray areas
should be corrected by the Federal Ministry of Health that way
Nigerians will be the beneficiaries. “Community Pharmacists are
all for NDDG. It is not true that drugs will become very
expensive. It is far from the true.   Drugs are not going to be
expensive rather we are going to have coordinated drug
distribution system.
“Other nations of the world have done this and it is working.
Drugs being expensive is not due to the fact that when you do
the right thing drugs will become expensive. When Drugs are
taken or distributed through the right channels, what will happen
is that the patient and the public will have access to quality
medicines, quality care and quality drug channels.”
Eliminating open drug markets
She maintained that the NDDG will completely eliminate open
drug markets and drugs will no longer be sold in the buses, open
market places and in portfolios. “It only makes drugs to be in
the hands of people trained or licensed to distribute drugs.”
Paul – Ozieh called on the regulatory authorities, to rise up to
the challenge and dismantle open drug markets as well as
ensure that the guidelines are implemented to the letter.
“Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN, and the national
Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control should be
on the trail of unregistered premises and the federal taskforce
under the auspices of NAFDAC is supposed to take down all
illegal premises where fake and counterfeit drugs are
distributed. These two regulatory bodies have the mandate to
clear the country of illegal premises and make sure that drugs
are only sold through registered premises.
We call upon them to have political will to protect the public by
doing their jobs.”
“The NDDG is in tandem with the laws of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. That is why we are calling upon PCN to do an audit and
NAFDAC to make the federal taskforce on fake and counterfeit
drugs work.”
Speaking on misuse of drugs among Nigerians, Paul –Ozieh
who noted that the enlightenment programme was part of their
activities to bring information on drugs to Nigerians, raised
alarm on the level of drug abuse in the country.
Declaring that the level of drug abuse was unacceptably high in
the country, she said they now see more people abusing
codeine and other drugs like tramadol. She blamed the high
incidence of non communicable diseases such as kidney
problems on possible drug abuse by Nigerians.
“The incidences have proved irrational use of medicines and it is
not good at all. That is why we are calling on the Federal
Government to do the needful and we are calling on regulatory
authorities, NAFDAC and PCN to begin to do the proper
regulations. The laws have already said that open drug market
is not acceptable in our clime. So the regulatory agency should
stand up to their duties and sanitize the chaotic distribution
channels.” She urged Nigerians to always patronise registered
premises for their drugs  as well as consult their pharmacists on
their drug needs.