High cost of drugs: Community pharmacists urge FG to subsidise healthcare products 

Blessing Akorowosi

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Lagos chapter has lamented the continuous rise in prices of drugs, calling on the federal government to subsidise healthcare needs.

The association decried the impact of inflation on drug prices which has led to low patronage as some patients resort to herbal remedies.

Speaking during the ACPN, Lagos Annual General Meeting and election, the outgoing Chairman of the association, Pharm. Lawrence Ekhator berated some of the federal government policies which has affected the pharmaceutical industry, especially the continuous change in import duties.

“The daily change of import duties, as we see, is not going to go well for our society. A lot of people are now going back to using herbs that they have left because the prices of drugs are no longer within the reach of the common people,” he said.

Ekhator further called on Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to take a leaf from Kano State government and replicate its coordinated wholesale centre to properly regulate the distribution of drugs and curb  circulation of fake drugs in Lagos.

The immediate past chairman, emphasised that drugs should not be sold anywhere and that a centralised wholesale centre would help traceability in the circulation of drugs.

He warned against open drug markets, appealing for the sanitisation of drug distribution for safer healthcare.

“We believe that every government should be interested and using the case of Kano to try to sanitise the drug distribution system. We all know that the menace of drug abuse is very high in Kano, Lagos also has the same problem about drug distribution.

“We have so many open drug markets, and so we are calling on the Lagos state government because it is within their purview to allocate or push forward the sites for a coordinated wholesale centre. The one in Kano was given by the Kano state government, and so we are calling on the Lagos state government to also allocate a portion of land for the coordinated wholesale centre if the Lagos state government is really interested in the welfare and health of her populace.

“From the point of entry to the point where it gets to the mouth of the consumer. We need a streamlined distribution system that can be championed through the coordinated wholesale centre, whereby the drug markets that are spread across various places in Lagos, in Idumota, in Mushin, can all be moved to one location where the regulators, NAFDAC, PCN, and even NDLEA, can monitor the inflow and outflow,” he stated.

He also urged the government to activate the health insurance scheme in Lagos to alleviate healthcare in the state.

The national secretary of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Gafar Olanrewaju spoke on the current economy’s impact on drugs with the fall of naira as most drugs are imported.

“The healthcare products that we deal with are majorly imported, so the value of the dollar is affecting the prices, and we have seen over the past two to three months that the prices have not stabilized. On the issue of patronage, healthcare is a basic need of man, so people who need to seek healthcare, still come, but the only impact is that many of them buy less because of financial strength,” he said.