By CHIOMA OBINNA

Worried by what it described as proliferation of illegal pharmaceutical premises, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to promptly reconstitute the Board of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, to save innocent Nigerians from dangerous pharmacy practice.

Meanwhile, the Association has faulted the National Agency for Food and Drug Administrations and Control’s, NAFDAC, Mobile Authentication Services, MAS, calling on the President to set up high powered committee of relevant technocrats to assess the reliability of the method to check fake medicine in Nigeria.

In a chat with Good Health Weekly the Chairman, Lagos  State chapter of ACPN, Pharm. Yinka Aminu said regulatory bodies had not met aspiration sof Nigerians for safe medicines.

Calling for urgent reconstitution of the PCN Board, he said government has not shown enough will power to correct the anomalies of illegal drug premises remain a veritable means of distribution of fake and counterfeit products.

Aminu said the high level of quackery has made good pharmacy difficult.  “Nigerians can only have access to safe medicines when the activities of quackery and drug hawkers are controlled.

“When medicines are exposed to heat they tend to change to substances that could be dangerous for human consumption and this is why we are advocating that Nigerians should patronise registered pharmacies. NAFDAC and PCN have the responsibility to ensure that people are not exposed to these drugs. If the government has feelings for citizens of this country they should rise up and stop drug hawking on our streets today.

“Medicines are supposed to solve problems not to create problems for patients. The level of drug hawking is becoming alarming and dangerous. Today, we are talking about emergence of chronic illnesses, like kidney and liver problems e.t.c, a lot of these problems could be traceable to this uncontrolled proliferation of medicine in Nigeria. Investigations have shown that when these medicines are available everywhere, people tend to abuse them.”

Aminu who picked hole in NAFDAC’s Mobile Authentication Services, MAS, called on the President to set up high power committee of relevant technocrat to assess the reliability of the method to check fake medicine in Nigeria.

Faulting NAFDAC’s Mobile Authentication Services, MAS, he said the failed device have continued to embarrass some of their members.  “The Association believes government should promote policies that would encourage accessibility, availability, affordability and efficacious medicines in line with the National Drug Policy 2005 and any factor that needlessly raises cost of production of drugs, jeopardises the spirit of the National Drug policy. We are ready to partner to rid the country of fake and counterfeit medicines but not to allow the unscientific method jeopardise the integrity we have built,” he stressed.