Dr Moyosore Adejumo, the Director, Pharmaceutical Services, Lagos State Ministry of Health, described the country’s drug distribution system as chaotic.
She said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the ongoing 56th National Council on Health meeting in Lagos. As the director of pharmaceutical services, naturally, the issue of drug distribution is very important to me.
We have what people generally refer to as a chaotic drug distribution nationwide, not just here in Lagos State, and it is hoped that during this period there will be some attention paid to it.
Particularly, as the Federal Ministry of Health has come up with a policy to sanitise drugs distribution by having a one stop centre, so to speak in each state of the federation.
So that drugs can be tracked; drugs are procured and distributed through that one centre and they can be tracked through the private sector, the public health facilities to the individual user on the street and in the community. ”
Adejumo said some states had a measure of central control over drug distribution, adding that the policies had just been formed by the Federal Government to increase efficiency. She said that Pharmacovigilance, another one important issue, which did not garner enough interest years ago, would also receive a policy launch.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines Pharmacovigilance as ``drug safety monitoring, the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of drug-related problems”.
She said that many people were not paying attention to the dangers of drugs misuse, which according to her, is causing problems. Pharmacovigilance is all about tracking adverse drug reactions. It is something that has not been attended to.
But, luckily along with the drug distribution guidelines, the pharmacovigilance policy was also launched. So, we are happy that the Federal Government is paying more attention to the fact that even ordinary paracetamol can have adverse drug effects on one person and might not affect the other person.
So, it is important that we pay attention because every drug is a potential poison; every drug has the potential to cause adverse drug reaction. Sometimes, it can be fatal, so, we are happy those guidelines have been launched.”
According to him, states have been encouraged to have a pharmacovigilance units, at least, at the secondary healthcare facilities and eventually at the local government level.
(NAN)
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