Follow Us on Google
By Doris Obinna
Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene on the current situation of drug prescription practices and dispensing in Nigeria.
It urged him to take urgent action to address the regula-tion of drug prescription quality and dispensing rights by agencies and institutions for the safety of con-sumers and added drug matters are on the exclusive list and that prescribing and dispensing of medicine can only be regulated by the federal government.
Its Chairman, Adewale Oladigbolu and Secretary, Ashore Omokhafe, said in a joint statement that it regretted the anomalies in payment mechanisms to providers. The association also noted: “The challenges in the separation of professional roles have not been re-dressed in the NHIS restructured as the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
“In Nigeria today, there are only about six thousand registered pharmacy facili-ties in the various cadres of prac-tice, including retailers, wholesale, importation and manufacturing. Of this number, less than four thousand are retailers who provide ser-vices directly to the consuming pub-lic.
“While there are less than four thousand registered retail pharmacies; there exist over a mil-lion different drug sellers who are unregistered. It is this plethora of il-legal drug sellers who are largely un-regulated who perpetrate most of the obnoxious and dirty practices in drug distribution in Nigeria.
“Nigerian doctors are guilty of dispensing drugs in both the public and private sectors in the country. Doctors are not trained to dispense drugs, and therefore, they are part of the problems of drug abuse and misuse as well as the inherent complications of this unwholesome development. They are reputed to be the major promoters of quackery in the health sector.”
It insisted that stocking and dis-pensing drugs in unlawful facilities is contrary to the provisions of Cap PCN 2022 and the Fake Drug Act, which prohibits the sales and dis-pensing of drugs in unregistered pharmacy facilities.
It however, al-leged that the usually widely publi-cised activities of state regulatory au-thorities for the private hospital have never indicted any of these hospitals for violating relevant drug laws. “Ev-ery health system hinges its drug flow patterns on the use of well-trained professionals who anchor pre-scribing and dispensing endeavours.”
The letter further reads: “In view of the lamentable high cost of drugs, which is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon, the federal government must compel legitimate prescribers, including medical doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons, to embrace generic drug prescribing in alignment with existing norms and guidelines in all health systems.
“It must resuscitate the National Prescription and Dispensing Committee, made up of eminent Pharmacists and Physicians under the Chairmanship of the Permanent Secretary of the federal ministry of health (FMOH) as constituted in 2013 based on a clarion call of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN).
“That Committee assignment was abandoned due to the pecuniary interests of some professionals who were not ready to let go of their unlawful practices. Prescribers must be made to generate prescriptions with their stamps and seals, while dispensers of drugs will affix their stamps and seals on all prescriptions duly dispensed.
“The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) must clearly delineate Over-the-Counter Medicines (OTCs), Prescription Only Medicines (POMs) and Pharmacist Initiated Medicines (PIMs) in line with its statutory powers.
“The International Pharmaceutical Federation (IFP) guidelines on Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) should become the minimum standard for dispensing medication to Nigerians. Our health system must place a premium on prescription quality and appropriate dispensing rights before we can vouch for the safety of consumers of health in Nigeria.”
