Health
SOUTH East stakeholders in the health sector have called for regulation on the distribution and marketing of drugs to end importation of fake drugs and substandard chemicals in the region.
Some of them who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews said the menace of the fake drug had led to the early death of many in the zone.
They attributed open market system in the country where there was no regulated channel of distributing drugs as the major cause of people peddling fake drugs.
In Enugu, the Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Enugu Chapter, Mr Festus Ejiekpe said it was hard to regulate substandard drugs in the state because the only airport in the Enugu did not clear people to import drugs.
This, he said, made the peddlers of fake drugs to enter the state through other states bordering it.
He also attributed unfavourable drug distribution network and open drug market as the major challenge to fight against importation of illicit medicine in the state.
Ejiekpe said, “Our part of the world is the place you see drugs being sold in the open market. In other parts of the world, there is organised drug distribution channel.
“For instance, if you want to withdraw certain drug from the system, there is an appropriate channel it can be done but here, once drug enter market, it cannot be controlled again.
“There are some dealers who do not want it to be regulated due to the gain they make from it. But we will continue to educate them on the health challenge of their activities,” he said.
He said the group, on regular basis, partner the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) to sensitize the members and other drug dealers from selling fake drugs.
The chairman explained that the association checkmated its members, adding that when they spotted substandard drugs, they mopped it from circulation.
“Sometimes, we hold programmes with the security agencies to reduce the menace of fake drugs in Enugu.
He however, added that relevant government agencies had a major role to play in curbing it by raiding their hideouts and stopping circulation of fake drugs in the state.
A health expert, Mr. James Izunna, said that government agencies like NAFDAC should step up on its responsibility of monitoring of drug registration in the country.
He regretted that drugs which ought to be sold in pharmarcy shops were now sold at the market places without adequate control mechanism.
“NAFDAC and health officials should ensure that Nigeria is free of fake drugs and other chemicals by destroying them when spotted, to serve as deterrent to others,” he advised.
In Imo, a drug dealer, Mr Uche Eze, urged the regulatory agencies to concentrate on their duties, as it was the duty of NAFDAC and Customs to see to the reduction in the importation of fake and substandard drugs.
“If the agencies that are at the entry points in the country are doing that which they ought to do, I believe that some of the fake and substandard drugs imported into the country will be discovered at the entry points,” he said.
Eze, who decried the increasing number of fake and substandard drugs in the markets, urged the regulatory agencies to conduct periodic checks in the markets and in companies that import drugs into the country.
“For those manufactured locally, the agencies should also beam their searchlights to monitor activities and investigate to ensure compliance with standards.
“The importers and producers of fake drugs are also leveraging on the fact that the agencies saddled with their responsibility to prevent such importation are not doing so or have been compromised,” he said.
Eze called for stronger synergy among agencies, saying that such collaboration can reduce the menace of fake and substandard drugs in the country.
He also called on the Federal Government to also beam its searchlight on some of the agencies that are not doing their job efficiently, with the aim of apprehending and punishing compromised officials to serve as deterrent to others.
An official of NAFDAC, who pleaded anonymity, said the agency had a lot on ground to checkmate importation of fake and counterfeit drugs in the country.
“But the truth is that Nigerians have devised various means to beat the relevant government agencies.
“Unfortunately, some of these unscrupulous elements connive with corrupt officers of various agencies especially the Nigerian Customs to smuggle in fake and counterfeit drugs.
“Sometimes, pharmaceutical products and drugs that are supposed to be inspected by NAFDAC at the ports are hidden from the commission by the corrupt officials,” the source alleged.
The source called for enhanced collaboration between the two agencies to further strengthen the fight against fake and counterfeit drugs in the country.
Some health experts in Ebonyi also called on all principal organs of pharmaceuticals to wake up to their responsibility to stop in-flow of fake drugs and substandard chemicals in the country.
In Ebonyi, Mr Sylvester Ade, a stakeholder, urged NAFDAC, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Consumer Protection Commission, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the Federal Ministry of health to control the development.
Ade said companies and countries with adulterated drugs should not be allowed to strive in the country.
He alleged that officers at the border area were not self disciplined but allowed substandard items into the country.
“Also specification and requirements must be checked to avoid death and related disaster,” Ade said.
Another resident in the state capital, Mr Ifeanyi Chukwu, said that the PSN had a major role to manage the situation by receiving petition from the public who might be victims of fake drugs and reactions, to identify cause of the problems.
Chukwu disclosed that most drugs at the counter were either fake, expired and relabled.
“80 per cent of drugs are fake and substandard which is harmful for consumers.
“NAFDAC should ensure strict compliance of drugs coming into the country. Also monitor if it is up to standard or met specifications.
Mr Gregory Aja, a health expert, urged governments to empower regulatory agencies and provide them with modern equipments to dictate fake drugs and chemicals.
Aja suggested that more sensitisation be made to enlighten the public to always check, report, content, expired drugs as well as numbers to call for possible development.
Dr Chinagozi Adindu, the Executive Secretary of Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, says effective implementation of pharmacovigilance is an essential tool for eradicating the menace of counterfeit drugs.
Adindu said that pharmacovigilance is the benefit-risk assessment of medications with the aim of improving patient safety.
He described pharmacovigilance as a proactive measure for tackling the menace of counterfeit drugs, with the capacity to produce extremely rewarding outcomes.
Adindu said that effective implementation of pharmocovigilance by the relevant agencies would help in sanitising the health system.
He called on the relevant agencies to conduct regular ethical reorientation sessions for key players in the drug manufacturing and distribution industry.
“The agencies concerned with ensuring that fake and counterfeit drugs are not in circulation in our country should be alive to their duties,” Adindu said.
He said that there should be an avenue for the public to report any form of fake drugs manufacturing around their neighborhood, adding that information remained a very potent tool for tackling the menace.
Also speaking, Miss Ezinne Ogwo-Ude, a pharmacist, described the menace of counterfeit drugs as a “chronic problem” which could be solved through effective collaboration among the relevant agencies and the public.
Ogwo-Ude said that effective implementation of Pharmacy Council of Nigeria Act, simple packaging controls and mobile authentication services were efficient strategies for curbing counterfeit drug manufacturing and distribution in Nigeria.(NAN)
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Tags: Festus Ejiekpe Ifeanyi Chukwu James Izunna NAFDAC
