The restriction placed on 18 imported drugs by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is causing a marked scarcity of drugs in Nigerian pharmacy stores.
NAFDAC recently placed a ban on Paracetamol tablets, Metronidazole tablets, Vitamin B Complex tablets, Co-trimoxazole tablets, Ferrous Sulphate tablets, Folic Acid tablets,and Magnisium Trisilicate, among others.
Isaac Folorunso Adewole, minister of health, confirmed exclusively to BusinessDay, that the drugs were banned to protect local industries which produce them, and save foreign exchange that would have been used in importing the medicines.
“Though there is low capacity utilisation in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, restriction is placed only on importation of pharmaceuticals (18 in all) that the country is producing in sufficient quantities to meet local needs,” Adewole said.
Experts see this ban as the key cause of the drug scarcity being experienced in medicine stores across the country.
“Of course, there is scarcity of medicines. Can our pharma companies produce all the nation needs? No. Why then do our leaders put the cart before the horse all the time? Should products be banned before we develop capacity to produce locally? Why can’t a plan be put in place first? Why toy with the health of the citizenry? Is it because we have no real statistics on cause of deaths?” asked a pharmacist.
“Let me focus on availability of controlled or scarce drugs. They are produced to fill a gap. They are needed for instance, for pain in sickle cell patients, the terminally ill, post-surgery, accidents and more. Pharmacists cannot get them. People continue to suffer. As professionals, we know the rules. Enforce them but make necessary medicines easily available,” the pharmacist complained.
A community pharmacist based in southern Nigeria, said medicines imported from developed countries, which are not manufactured locally at all, or which are manufactured but in insufficient quantities, should be allowed into the country, with necessary controls.
“The process must be controlled yet efficient. It is possible to have this, as seen in many countries. Pharmacists are drug experts. As long as they have the relevant documents, they should be allowed to import necessary pharmaceuticals, so patients do not continue to suffer,” the pharmacist said.
“These last few months have been harrowing for many patients, and it has also been very difficult as a community pharmacist, to explain to our customers that we cannot get them the medications they desperately need to stay healthy,” he added.
But Iyke Onyechi, founder and Managing Director, Alpha Pharmacy, lamented that beyond the restriction, pharmacists cannot also find funds to import drugs, on account to of dollar scarcity and banks’ reluctance to give loans now.
“We cannot get money to bring drugs in. No bank is even discussing any form of loan, whether short-term or long-term. We cannot source loans to bring in the needed drugs. The ones we bought on credit, we cannot pay for, because dollars are not readily available and the exchange rate is high.”
“Even in the black market, it is not available and sadly, scarcity can open an avenue for counterfeiters, which should not be so,” Onyechi says, and further adds “It is very depressing; it is taking everyone by surprise. The government and banks should know what to do, they can help to consult internationally and locally, to know how to borrow money to help ease this burden.
“People should be encouraged to invest in the drug manufacturing sector. As a nation, we do not have enough items that can be exported to the world market. Money has to be pumped into the economy; there is no way we can survive like this,” he said.
Olabisi Oyeleye, MD/CEO, Pharma Solutions Limited, confirmed the struggle to get funds to import drugs which many pharmacy stores are going through.
“I do not have a scanty shelf and I do not have a problem with any of our stock. Apart from routine drugs, we also do highly specialised drugs, so we do not have a problem with any of our stocks. Importation has been a little bit of achallenge. The exchange rate has changed and since it has changed, definitely, the prices of drugs have changed too. I however appeal to the government to enable us access foreign exchange through the banks, so it is easier for everybody,” she said.
A woman who regularly buys imported supplements for her severely autistic twins was deeply saddened at the extreme scarcity of the products. She said she is helpless watching her children suffer every day from insomnia, hyperactivity, and a gradual decline of their behavioural progress.
Recently, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), in a communiqué, signed by the president, Ahmed Yakasai, and national secretary, Gbolagade Iyiola, requested that the government should make available for them, on preferential basis, foreign exchange from the official market for pharmaceutical products which are scarce yet vital and lifesaving.
NAFDAC officials did to respond to calls to make comments on the restrictions placed on certain drugs.
Kemi Ajumobi
