FG set to Shut Down All Open Drug Markets July 1

In a move to ensure organised drug distribution system in the country is strengthened, the federal government will on July 1, commence the implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDGs).

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute stated this yesterday in Abuja, stressing that, regulatory agencies like the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) and NAFDAC would on that date, resume the exercise of their mandate to ensure full compliance.

He said “We are hopeful that the existence of open drug markets in the country will be a thing of the past as the drug distribution system of the country has remained uncoordinated, chaotic and has resulted in the circulation of fake, adulterated, substandard and counterfeit drugs.

According to Awute, the chaotic drug distribution posed a very big challenge to the pharmaceutical sector in particular and the federal government in general considering the negative impact the situation has on the entire health care delivery system of the country.

It will be recalled that in order to address the ugly situation, the federal government established the Presidential Committee on Pharmaceutical Sector Reform and charged it among others, to develop a strategy towards the institutionalisation of a well ordered drug distribution system.

Also, strategies adopted by the committee to achieve this include the development of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines in 2010 to provide guidance for drug distribution, aimed at curtailing fictitious drugs marketing.

Awute said: “The launch of the document in 2012 signaled the take-off of its implementation while the deadline was for the establishment of State Drug Distribution Centres (SDDCs) by the state governments and Mega Drug Distribution Centres (MDDSs) by the private sector was declared on 30th June, 2014.

“The deadline was however extended to 30th June 2015 to allow more time for the establishment of more SDDCs and MDDCs.”

He explained that as the new deadline date has drown near, it was imperative to remind stakeholder in the pharmaceutical sector and Nigerians so that they will commence the full implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines.

The permanent secretary maintained that state governments are allowed to upgrade their medical stores to the level of SDDCs where states like Jigawa, Niger, and Ekiti had already commenced the implementation of the guidelines while Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Anambra SDDCs are expected to for take-off soon.

Awute added that other developed MDDs structures are the Arsene Laboratory, World Wide Ventures and the Onitsha Mega Drug Distribution Centre waiting commissioning even as the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria is supporting the establishment of ultra-logistics company with on-going structures of the MDDCs in the six geo-political zones of the country.