Community Pharmacists under the Association of Community Pharmacists (ACPN) in Lagos have called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to replicate Kano’s Coordinated Wholesale Centre to combat the distribution of fake drugs in Lagos.
This is coming on the heels of the recent relocation of the drug markets to the Coordinated Wholesale Centre by the Kano State government as part of efforts to end the open drug market in the state.
Making the call during the Annual General Meeting of the Chairman, ACPN Lagos State branch, Pharm. Lawrence Ekhator argued that drugs should not be sold anywhere and that a centralized wholesale centre would help regulate drug distribution and ensure traceability.
Ekhator who raised the alarm that open drug markets in Lagos have remained a source of worry for all stakeholders within the pharmaceutical space, explained that drugs are only used if and when they are needed as a regulated item.
“We believe that every government should be interested and using the case of Kano to try to sanitise the drug distribution system. We all know that the menace of drug abuse is very high in Kano, Lagos also has the same problem about drug distribution.
“We have so many open drug markets, and so we are calling on the Lagos state government because it is within their purview to allocate or push forward the sites for a coordinated wholesale centre.
“The one in Kano was given by the Kano state government, and so we are calling on the Lagos state government to also allocate a portion of land for the coordinated wholesale centre if the Lagos state government is really interested in the welfare and health of her populace.”
Ekhator regretted that drug distribution in Nigeria presently was in total shambles, where drugs are sold everywhere and anywhere.
He said building the coordinated wholesale centre would streamline drug distribution, and ensure that every product that comes into the country that comes into Lagos state can be traced.
“From the point of entry to the point where it gets to the mouth of the consumer. We need a streamlined distribution system that can be championed through the coordinated wholesale centre, whereby the drug markets that are spread across various places in Lagos, in Idumota, in Mushin, can all be moved to one location where the regulators, NAFDAC, PCN, and even NDLEA, can monitor the inflow and outflow.”
Continuing, Ekhator who flayed some of the Federal government policies, which he said affected their practice, lamented that the current economy was uncollaborative to many community pharmacists. He emphasised the challenges faced by community pharmacists, including low patronage and the impact of inflation on drug prices.
“The daily change of import duties, as we see, is not going to go well for our society. A lot of people are now going back to using herbs that they have left because the prices of drugs are no longer within the reach of the common people.
He urged the government to activate the health insurance scheme in Lagos to alleviate these issues.
He further criticized government policies such as import duties, which he claimed have increased the prices of drugs and led people to turn to herbal remedies.
The outgoing chairman of the association expressed his achievements in improving their secretariat and fostering collaboration with various health stakeholders.
Speaking, the National Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Gafar Olanrewaju also emphasized the impact of the exchange rate on drug prices and called for government attention to subsidize healthcare needs.
He said so long as drugs are still imported, the value of dollar to Naira, will definitely affect the prices of those items.
Noting that over the past few weeks, drug prices have changed by over 100 percent, he said for importers to be able to import the same quantity of healthcare products that they import, they would be required to look for more money.
He stressed the need for the Nigerian government to pay more attention to the health sector and discover different ways the needs of the citizens can be subsidised.
“Agreed that subsidy on petrol has been removed. But there are some areas where government can assist the vulnerable and it is essential that government pay attention to the implementation of national health insurance policy as it has already provided for the vulnerable.”
SOURCE: Vanguard
