WWCVL Ready for Mega Drug Distribution, says Kumar

pharmacy

-As management pays courtesy visit to Pharmanews

Santosh Kumar, managing director of World Wide Commercial Ventures Limited (WWCVL) has declared that the multinational company is working way ahead of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG).

Speaking during his courtesy visit to Pharmanews Limited, which took place Monday, November 27, 2017, Kumar explained that long before the vision of NDDG was conceived in Nigeria, WWCVL has started the process.

“Although our facility which was commissioned by the former NAFDAC boss, Dr Paul Orhii, has been registered by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) as a mega distribution centre, WWCVL has started the process for years now.

“At the moment, we have nine depots and several officials on ground. Even in far away Maiduguri, we no longer have a depot there but we still monitor the progress of our marketing team, courtesy of the company’s cutting-edge technology,” he said.

On a lighter mood, Kumar who replaced Anant Narayan (now retired) as managing director remarked that the essence of the visit by the two-man delegation, which included Pharm. Lucky Ubokor, WWCVL superintendent pharmacist, was to pay homage to Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi,managing director of Pharmanews Limited for his support, goodwill and media coverage over the years.

“In India, just as Nigeria, we respect and revere elders. Having been in the country for about 12 years, I know how people revere you in the pharma industry. You remain an icon of the profession.

“You have done well and as far as I am concerned, Pharmanews is about the only voice I know in the health sector,” he stressed.

Expressing appreciation, Atueyi said that he felt honoured by the visit of the multinational company’s executives. After taking them through a brief history of how Pharmanews was envisioned in 1979, the pharmacist emphasised that the dream is still being sustained through divine providence.

“I am happy that the hard copies of all our editions to date are still around to prove that we have not missed a single edition.

Today, it is quite difficult to find any publication even among the dailies that has published consistently for that long. Even the National Library of Nigeria has confirmed it,” he quipped.

Atueyi also commended WWCVL for successfully bringing companies together, adding that it was quite remarkable, unlike in the past where companies hid trade secrets and rates from perceived competitors.

The NDDG, aimed at establishing a well-ordered drug distribution system in Nigeria, is the result of the cumulative efforts of stakeholders in the health sector from 2009 to 2012. The objectives outlined are very clear and altruistic: reduction in the levels of adulterated and fake drugs in the market; elimination of the dominance of unregulated drug markets in major cities of the country; breaking of the stranglehold of the informal sector on drugs distribution; facilitation of the oversight role of relevant federal government of Nigeria agencies; and ensuring that all drugs in the national drug distribution system are safe, efficacious, effective, affordable, and of good quality.

The NDDG framework was initially composed of Mega Drug Distribution Centres (MDDCs), States Drug Distribution Centres (SDDCs), wholesalers and retail outlets, in a hierarchical order to be operated by the private and public sectors. Regulatory agencies were recognised within the framework, including the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

World Wide Commercial Ventures Limited (WWCVL) is part of South Africa based leading logistics and distribution company Imperial logistics and is a licensed vendor to all major healthcare providers in Nigeria. It has also been described as a one-stop solution for warehousing, pharma marketing, supply chain, Sales& Marketing  regulatory ,  port clearance, transportation logistics and inventory management.

WWCVL houses many great companies such as GSK Pharma, Pfizer , GSK Consumer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Danone, Sanofi, Pfizer,  Abbott , Merck , Neimeth ,  Drugfield , Gemini .Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, Sandoz,  Strides  and Roche. Getz, Shalina Healthcare and Pharmadeko are the latest addition to the family.