Eminent pharmacists and stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry have tasked the Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (PWDAN) to ensure the integrity of pharmaceutical supply chain, adding that the distribution of medical products in the country requires urgent intervention.
Speaking recently at the 3rd Annual National Conference of PWDAN, with the theme “Enhancing access to quality, safe, effective and affordable medicines: The role of the pharma distributors and wholesalers in Nigeria”, held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, the Director General, NAFDAC, Prof. (Mrs) Moji Adeyeye, noted that with the current situation of things in the country, access to quality, safe, effective and affordable medicine would be difficult to achieve.
The NAFDAC boss, who was represented by Pharm. Bitrus Fraden, director of the Post Marketing Surveillance Directorate, further noted that to achieve the goal of meeting the health needs of Nigerians, there must be positive collaboration and urgent interventions of groups and regulatory agencies like PWDAN, PMG-MAN, APIN, ACPN, NIROPHARM, PCN, and NAFDAC and others.
According to Adeyeye, the supply chain must be under control to avoid infiltration, and the supply must be in line with established legislation and regulations. “Each entity or participant in the supply chain must adhere to all applicable laws and conditions. There must be appropriate documentation to ease traceability, this will soon be digitized by the traceability project embarked upon by NAFDAC.
Speaking in the same vein, the duo of the Registrar, Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), Pharm. Babashehu Ahmed, represented by Solomon Shiihii, deputy director, Inspection, Monitoring and Quality Assurance Unit, Lagos zonal office, and Pharm. Wale Oladigbolu, national chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), represented by Pharm. Bridget Otote, national vice-chairman, noted that to ensure supply chain integrity, all hands must be on deck to ensure collaboration.
“The best step to take is to bring those players in Idumota and other places closer and tell them that it’s not done that way, this is the way it should go. That way, you’d be helping the regulators to regulate you better”, he said.
While declaring the conference opened, Prof Cyril Usifoh, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), noted that the theme of the conference was apt and timely, adding that the coming of PWDAN has signalled a new dawn in pharma distribution as it has come to change the narrative, by bringing the pharma supply chain in Nigeria to a new era of global best practice through good distribution practice.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the event, Pharm. Ade Popoola, noted that the largest room in the world is room for improvement, adding that the reason for the gathering of the stakeholders in the pharma sector for the event was to bridge a gap. “If you stop seeing gaps there’s no need for interaction, there’s no need for improvement, there is no for education and there’s no need for capacity building”.
Speaking on the theme of the event, Popoola, who is also the managing director of Reals Pharmaceuticals Limited said, “We want to consider the gaps and how to fill them. Every man has a role in a chain. It’s a chain and if it’s broken it’ll not link. For example, in the family, everybody has a role to play, and in the pharmaceutical family, wholesalers have a major role to play.
Earlier in his opening speech, the National Chairman of PDWAN, Pharm. Oghenechuko Omaruaye, stated that the conference is an annual event and the idea is to bring stakeholders in the pharmaceutical supply chain together to discuss ways by which they can help to resolve the challenges that they have in the sector.
He said, “We’re not satisfied with the quality of distribution of drugs in Nigeria. Our group created this platform to discourse, and come up with solutions and ways to resolve some of these issues. Usually at a conference like this, we come up with a communique and we share it with regulators, and the government, with the hope that by collaborating with relevant stakeholders, we will be able to solve the problems that we have.
His words, “The essence of PWDAN as the ones in the middle of this whole activity is to get it right. Manufacturers and importers make the drugs available to us and we now redistribute across the length and breadth of Nigeria. So, our group is made up of professionals who agreed that we would do this thing the way it’s done in a developed economy,” Omaruaye said.
Speaking at the event, the Keynote Speaker, Pharm. (Mrs) Uzoma Ezeoke, executive director Emzor Pharmaceuticals Limited, said the keynote was about access to affordable, quality medicines, adding that it focused on why we’re where we are beginning from the fact that we had the National Drug Distribution Guidelines for about 15 years.
According to her, “There’s a call to action for PWDAN members as pharmaceutical wholesalers and distributors of Nigeria to step into that gap. There’s a very vibrant leadership for PWDAN and we have a level of interest coming from the Federal Government around medicines issues and local manufacturers as well”.
Speaking on the issue of counterfeiting, she noted that it goes beyond pharmaceuticals. “The key thing is having a mapped-out system which we do, execution is the issue, “she said.
