Fight Fake Drug Menace, Pharmacists Tell NAFDAC

Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to deploy every possible measure within its regulatory mandate to combat the menace of counterfeit medicines in the country.

Recently, about 600 pharmacists joined NAFDAC in a new volunteer scheme aimed at curbing the circulation of fake and substandard drugs.

The new initiative, the Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme, aims to take regulation to the doorstep of the Nigerian people.

After administering the oath of allegiance to the pharmacists, the director-general, NAFDAC, Prof.

Mojisola Adeyeye, urged them to serve the country with integrity that is beyond negotiation, noting that in the course of their service, they would encounter offers and pressures designed to compromise them.
Reacting to this development, the national chairman, ACPN, Ambrose Ezeh said, “It’s a welcome development; they should use any possible means within their mandate to fight the menace. We supported the move and even proposed it.”

“As patriotic Nigerians, we reject such offers. The moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection.”

The six hundred qualified, service-ready pharmacists, already pursuing their careers in different fields, were drawn from all thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory, representing every one of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. They would be exposed to the real work of medicines regulation: pharmacovigilance, compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection, and public sensitisation against drug abuse.

NAFDAC DG said they would also learn what it means to stand between the Nigerian public and substandard, falsified, or dangerous products, stressing that the vision behind the programme was to build, over time, a national reserve of working pharmacists who can be called upon at short notice wherever the health of Nigerians is at risk;

She said it could be during a product recall, a suspected circulation of falsified medicines, or an emergency in a hard-to-reach community, and that volunteers could be needed for a few hours or days.