•Says It Will Worsen Existing Chaotic Drug
Distribution Network
•Tells Buhari To Improve Health Sector Rating By
Appointing Experienced Administrators
Chioma Umeha
Pharmacists under the auspices of Association of
Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has picked holes in the proposal of the
Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to create three-tiers of eligible players in
the sales of OTC drugs under the wide classification of Patent &
Proprietary Medicine Vendors Licence (PPMVL) in Nigeria.
Speaking for ACPN, Samuel Adekola, the National
Chairman, said the proposal had been subjected to a lot of critical appraisal
in the last few days that it was made public through a Punch on-line projection
and that the entropy the move of the FMOH has generated compels the ACPN as the
primary constituency that continues to bear the burden of an unwieldy drug
distribution channel to make some clarifications.
Adekola explained that the concept of PPMVL was
originally structured to be a stop-gap mechanism to make drugs available in
locations where there existed palpable shortage of professional services in the
Pharmaceutical Sector.
This, Adekola said, was commonplace in the rural
areas and even some state capitals in Northern Nigeria which appeared underserved
even in contemporary times, adding that in the early days, the PPMVLs were made
to relocate once there was confirmation of pharmaceutical presence through
registered Pharmacies.
Adekola told DAILY INDEPENDENT that the ACPN was
aware of efforts by Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to review the
activities of PPMVL holders to make them more effective and to comply with the
extant law that established them.
“This to our best knowledge is still an ongoing
discussion; hence we do not understand the haste by the FMOH to announce the
tier classification of PPMVL holders and came out to declare that Patent
Medicine Dealers has come to stay,” he stated.
The National Chairman ACPN added, “We find it
extremely important to caution on the larger implications of the unnecessary
stratification which opens a supposed tier-2 of PPMVL holders which will be
made up of health professionals.
“One wonders why FMOH and its appendages would
formulate a policy that opens the health system to another round of avoidable
entropy if the global norm, which is grounded on international best practices
rightly presumes that pharmacists are experts in drug and therefore must
superintend the sales, use and dispensing of drugs through licensure.”
Similarly, a statement jointly signed by Adekola
and Bose Idowu, National Secretary, queried the rationale of the FMOH for
attempting to mutilate the lawful configuration.
Idowu said that in one breath, the FMOH and its
parastatals are perceived as the major proponents of the Pharmacy Council Bill
which already addresses the fundamental issue of accessibility to affordable,
safe and efficacious drugs through the concept of Satellite Pharmacies.
She said, “This same bill is clear that Pharmacy
Technicians, a globally recognised cadre in the pharmaceutical value chain,
will legally through statutes subsequently drive Patent Medicine Vending in
Nigeria because this cadre is trained in the handling of OTC drugs in
facilities accredited by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).
“Why then do we need this most unfortunate
distraction orchestrated by the FMOH? The membership of the ACPN is certainly
not comfortable with the motive that drove this tier classification of OTC
drugs because it is a potential instrument to further worsen the chaotic drug
distribution network in our country.”
Idowu contended that in the emerging scenario, it
was very apparent that the tier-classification of OTC drug by varying service
providers is self-serving and actually a loophole by the FMOH to probably legitimise
custody of drugs by a favoured profession which has always carried out this
endeavour unlawfully in their private hospitals.
“It is a statement of fact that regulators have
never monitored or controlled drug stocks in private hospital facilities in
Nigeria. This new tier-classification will only provide a legal template to
short-circuit existing or proposed Pharmacy Statutes in the totality of
regulation, enforcement, monitoring and control because all a private hospital
needs to do to lawfully stock medicine is to annex a Patent Medicine shop to
the hospital facility.
“In a country where it has always been impossible
to regulate the activities of those who indulge in drug sales and dispensing,
it is only a matter of common-sense that what the FMOH is undertaking if this
proposal is allowed to be implemented is the final burial ceremony of Pharmacy
practice in Nigeria,” she stated.
The ACPN National Secretary then called on the
management of the FMOH to immediately convoke a full consultation of the
critical stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector which include PSN, ACPN,
PCN, NAFDAC and the department of Food and Drug Services of the FMOH to
deliberate on the urgent matter arising with a view to charting a credible path
moving forward.
“It remains a major irony that every turn when we
should be making progress, policy shifts and somersaults have been embraced by
the leadership of the FMOH to deny us progress.
“We at ACPN have also resolved to handle this
matter, which revolves around our future and destiny with all the smartness and
seriousness it deserves.
“The ACPN wishes to call on the Buhari
Administration to carefully evaluate the antecedents of persons who can steer
the ship of the health sector successfully against the background of our failed
health system which continues to receive extremely poor ratings because we have
always anchored our healthcare administration on peculiar indigenous mode
(Nigerian style of Health administration) despite the reality that it is a
global phenomenon which needs to be conducted as a universal affair,” she said.
The ACPN therefore cautioned that the next set of
Health Ministers must be structured to be “fit and proper, adding that it is
expedient they should be experienced administrators or managers of cognate
exposure to promote team-spirit that would allow all stakeholders to bring
their expertise to bear in public interest as it is an established fact that
healthcare delivery is a multi-disciplinary task.
“For the sake of posterity, we shall seek approval
from necessary quarters to seek a legal redress of this proposal on
tier-classification as canvassed by the outgoing Adewole-led Administration at
the FMOH if our admonitions and appeals for dialogue are not taken seriously in
the days ahead,” the ACPN said.
