THE Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has allayed the fear of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of the Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) on the new national drug distribution guidelines agreed on by pharmaceutical experts and approved by the Federal Government.
Its National Secretary, Adeoye Afuye, said yesterday that the greatest fear of any human globally “is the fear of change” and asserted that the guidelines would bring sanity to the nation’s “chaotic drug distribution channels”.
He noted that the ACPN, as an important stakeholder in the pharmaceutical health care delivery system”, deemed it fit to educate the public and other critical members of the pharmaceutical professions on the issue.
The guidelines, he explained, were formulated by the Federal Government through a committee comprising all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical section with PMG-MAN inclusive.
Afuye added that members of the committee included experts from the Federal Ministry of Health, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), World Health Organisation (WHO), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), and Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN).
Others were National agency for food, Drug, Administration and control (NAFDAC), ACPN and PMG-MAN.
He said after thorough deliberation, the guideline was produced and the implementation date was fixed for July 2014 and was later shifted to July 1, 2015.
Afuye noted that it was agreed that the guidelines be implemented by the Federal Government as contained in the policy document and that any short-comings or challenges would be addressed as it occurs.
“It was a big surprise to hear from one of the originator of the document after two years of suspended implementation that the document, if implemented, would hand over the pharmaceutical industry to cartels and syndicates,” ACPN official said.
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