Pharmacists Decry Lack Of Ethical Control On Drug Distribution

Members of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) have raised the alarm over the risk of high morbidity and mortality in the country as a result of lack of control in ethical drug distribution.

The body attributed the worrisome development to total surrender of drug channel distribution to charlatans and infiltrators, who without the requisite qualifications and respect to laws and policies of the country, have taken over the distribution network.

The chairman of ACPN, Wale Oladigbolu, who decried the prevailing situation, described it as a big security threat to the health of our nation and cautioned against the undesirable consequences of the development.

He expressed concern that the nation’s adversaries could take advantage of the unhealthy situation to undermine the health of vulnerable citizenry through unwholesome practices, including lacing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and excipients or finished products with harmful substances.

Oladigbolu said, ‘’This is because the adversaries of this nation can explore the inherent weaknesses in the value chain of drug distribution endeavours to impose significant morbidity and mortality on our vulnerable population by lacing our APIs, excipients or finished products with very lethal substances which would have created havoc before the possibility of a damage control.

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“There is a strong need to embrace control over ethical drug distribution as the current status quo constitutes gargantuan security threats to the health of our nation. This is because the adversaries of this nation can explore the inherent weaknesses in the value chain of drug distribution endeavours to impose significant morbidity and mortality on our vulnerable population by lacing our APIs, excipients or finished products with very lethal substances which would have created havoc before the possibility of a damage control.”

In a release by ACPN signed by Oladigbolu and the secretary of the association, Ambrose Ezeh, the pharmacists said the non-production of APIs in the country had been a factor militating against medicine security in the nation’s health delivery and needs urgent solution.

‘’The challenges of medicine security have always been tied to the non-production of APIs in our country, but obvious challenges in the drug distribution network now make it imperative that we must have more robust consultations to nip in the bud the seemingly deep and penetrating aberrations in distribution network.’’