•Pharmacists urge special attention to producers
If the scarcity of foreign exchange for importation of critical raw materials persists, the country may soon witness shortage of drugs in circulation, a situation that could be dangerous to the health of the citizens.
Pharmacists under the aegis of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), who alerted the nation to the situation, said to prevent the imminent doom, the Federal Government should make available foreign exchange to bonafide pharmacists to procure critical raw materials, and provide intervention fund for the pharmaceutical sector.
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President PSN, Ahmed I. Yakasai, and Chairman of PMG-MAN, Okey S. Akpa, said that despite government policy that targeted 70 per cent utilization of local capacity in drug production, Nigeria is currently utilizing only about 35 per cent of its local production capacity. Akpa, yesterday, in Lagos, at a press conference heralding the inauguration of the new PSN President, Yakasai and investiture of 70 new fellows of the society scheduled for February 18, 2016, in Abuja, said: “The only thing to say at this time is to alert the nation to an impending risk and threat to drug security in the country. This is going to happen if the current level of scarcity of forex persists.
“There is going to be absolute drought of raw materials. This time around, we are talking about critical raw materials, what we classify as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Nearly every manufacturer is using about the last set of raw materials they have got and what we see and foresee that is going to happen is scarcity of medicines, essential medicines and when they are available, the cost will go up.”
The ceremony is scheduled for 7pm at Transcorp Hilton Abuja, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, as the guest of honour and the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, as the special guest.
Akpa, who is the chief executive officer of SKG Pharma and chairman of the inauguration and investiture committee, added: “Our recommendation is that we are appealing to the government to please prioritise pharmaceutical raw materials, treat them as top priority and allocate forex directly to bonafide pharmaceutical manufacturers to ameliorate that scarcity of raw materials that may create drug insecurity.
By: Chukwuma Muanya
The Guardian News
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