Demonstrate Political Will to Enable Pharmacists Perform Efficiently, ACPN Tells FG

Funmi Ogundare

Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), has called on the federal government to demonstrate political will and constitute a pharmacist council that would enable the body carry out its constitutional/statutory responsibilities efficiently.

The National Chairman, Dr. Albert Alkali Kelong who made this known, recently, while briefing Journalists on activities to hold its national conference tagged ‘Coal City 2016’, stressed the need for the federal government to also consider appointing a director general of NAFDAC from among pharmacists for greater efficiency.

According to him, “recent happenings in the field of pharmaceutical practice in Nigeria, indicates that the two agencies need to do more. These can be measured by the numerous illegal pharmaceutical premises and patent medicine stores scattered in the number of fake and substandard pharmaceutical products all over the country. This is made worse by the open drug market that there regulators are shying away from closing.”

He expressed concern that the proliferation of illegal pharmaceutical premises and fake and substandard products, all over the country is a lack of political will by the federal government through its regulatory agencies to implement well conceived and articulated National Drug Distribution Guideline (NDDG) 2012 edition, adding that it would have solved the chaotic drug distribution system in Nigeria.

“The government has shifted the implementation date twice and we are looking to the new date which is tentatively August 2017. We hope that the government through her regulatory agencies would muster the political will and subdue vested interest in implementing the new NDDG so that faking, counterfeiting, unregistered pharmaceutical products and illegal premises would be a thing of the past, ” the president stressed.

He called on the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria to redouble their efforts in closing down all unregistered pharmaceuticals premises and medicine stores all over the country, as well as all open drug markets , adding that the markets are veritable source of fake and counterfeit drugs in the country.

The national chairman who appealed to NAFDAC to redouble its efforts in stemming down the preponderance of unregistered drug products that are found in private clinic, pharmacies and government hospitals.

Emphasising on the conference which team is, ‘ Manpower Development in Community Pharmacy Practice- Adopting Global Best Practices’, he said, will discuss the regulation of pharmaceutical practice, national drug distribution guidelines, concept of chain pharmacy, economic situation in the country, HHIS, among others.

The annual conference which will hold between May 29 and June 3, 2016 will b chaired by the Chief Executice Officer of Juhel Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Ifeanyi Okoye, the keynote address will be delivered by Mr. Layi Gobir, while the Governor of Enugu state, Hon. Lawrence Ifeanyi Uwuanyi is the special Guest of Honour.