All stakeholders must do more to tame the menace
Following reports of serious adverse reactions, the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) recently notified the public of the recall of one batch of Deekins Amoxycillin 500mg Capsule. But that is like scratching the surface in tackling a menace that is not only national but has also reached epidemic proportions. Today, many of the drug stores across the country are kept in business by large scale importation from Europe, India and China. And in a nation where prescription drugs can be purchased from over the counter (OTC) store, the current influx of fake and adulterated drugs comes as no surprise. What seems to have heightened the challenge is the closure of some multinational drug companies in Nigeria due to the operating environment.
No critical sector has perhaps been impacted by the astronomical hike in the prices of goods and services in the country like the health sector. The drug trade is lucrative and, like many things Nigerian, has become an all-comers affair. Besides, a combination of insecurity, multiple taxation, epileptic power supply, poor infrastructure, port congestion, foreign exchange scarcity, etc., have forced many of the multinational drug manufacturing companies operating in the country to close shop in recent months. Notably, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest drug producer, halted its operations in August last year. Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical multinational, also has exited Nigerian operations. The implications have been severe.
From common illnesses like malaria fever and headache to chronic ones like high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney, and liver diseases, most medications are currently being priced beyond the reach of the average Nigerian. That has encouraged the influx of adulterated and counterfeit drugs that contain too much or too little of active ingredients. Although NAFDAC has been proactive in alerting Nigerians about many of the antibiotic medication used for the treatment of different types of bacterial infections, there is hardly any drug in the country today that has not been ‘duplicated’. We therefore call on the government and other stakeholders to rise to this new threat against the well-being of Nigerians.
Since the current direction of Nigeria’s external trade is mostly with countries where faking and adulteration have become established sub economies, there is need for a diplomatic reorientation that involves government at the highest level. The near absence of controls in those countries and at our end increases the challenge. Corruption at our ports of entry and in the regulatory agencies is a whole area of concern that has remained with us for so long. Rogue officials of NAFDAC, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Customs Service, etc., have developed a culture of complicity on nefarious trafficking in
substandard products.
Meanwhile, in drugs and medicaments, the general poverty among the populace makes cheap adulterated drugs more affordable while unscrupulous traders will import and sell what the market effectively demands. Unfortunately, the absence of a national policy on Medicare and Medicaid has driven most Nigerians into the underground medicine market of fake products. But many people are into the business of illegal sales and importation of counterfeit drugs evidently because sanctions are not being applied when the law is breached.
What the foregoing suggests is an urgent need to set up a water-tight regulatory framework in the drug administration environment. There must be a consistent effort to alert the people to the risks of fake drugs and reinforce the need for them to patronise the right health institutions. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), the government agency saddled with protecting the public from unreasonable risks and injury should also be alive to its responsibilities. Beyond that, we need a comprehensive plan to revamp the health sector in the country.
