By Chioma Obinna

The Association of Community Pharmacists (ACPN) has petitioned President Ahmed Tinubu over a recent circular by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa, directing chief medical directors and medical directors of all federal government-owned tertiary health institutions to only use locally-made syringes and needles.

In a letter tagged: “A Need for a Presidential Redress of the Gaffe by Dr. Tunji”, the ACPN described the circular as a misnomer in many aspects and ramifications.

The letter was jointly signed by the National Chairman, Prince Wale Oladigbolu and the National Secretary, Pharm. Omokhafe Ashore said after a careful evaluation of the development, they posited that the circular does not appear to align with the convention and protocol of the civil service in Nigeria.

They argued that for a Minister to sign a circular instead of a designated civil servant amounts to a climax of the absurd.

The letter reads in parts: “The desperation and a seeming ulterior motive by the Minister of State to get involved procedurally in what should have been the exclusive preserve of bureaucrats like the Permanent Secretary or other technocrats like the relevant Directors have led to avoidable errors.

 “In the past few weeks, some notable leaders in healthcare and representatives of some of the various healthcare professional bodies cautioned the Hon. Minister on the need to exercise caution before banning the importation of medical consumables and devices as well as drugs in Nigeria.

“When Dr. Tunji Alausa visited Afrimedical Manufacturing and Supplies Ltd. syringe factory in Ota, Ogun State about mid-March, 2024 (the factory is purportedly owned by a major Presidential aspirant in the 2023 general elections) and began to mouth the need to ban the import of syringes in Nigeria, the cognoscenti of opinion was that the imperative demanded a requisite need assessment of needles and syringes in Nigeria against a scientific evaluation of the capacity utilization and installed capacity of the existing three factories which manufacture syringes in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: FG bans use of foreign syringes, needles in tertiary hospitals 

“The ACPN as the technical group of the PSN, which is the natural habitat of the largest assemblage of producers and marketers of drugs, consumables, chemicals, medical devices and other health consumables remains a strong advocate of local manufacturing.

“The ethos and tenets of commerce suggest that Competitiveness brings out the best in terms of quality and pricing index. The advantage of consumers in all global assessments. Even if we choose to jeopardize WTO treaties to which we are signatories because of national interest must be guided by recent experiences in the commodity segment markets.

“What has become our portion as a country with the sales of cement should be a test case of what imposed monopolies can cause nations that allow emotional paroxysms to override the vagaries of economic realities in the demand and supply window of selected commodities.”

They argued that the decision would bring about a monopoly and stock-outs in the supply value chain of syringes because it is a little too hasty and brash.

Continuing, they said the lamentations of the Minister amount to phoenixism. “This is an economic principle where an organization in the bid to meet the totality of its commitments changes the nature of the game but continues to use the old management methodologies to run the organisation to meet its goals.”

Raising some salient pointers, they queried: “Why is it possible to bring substandard products into Nigeria with the array of regulators at the designated ports of entry?

“What philosophy encourages dumping of products including drugs and other health commodities more than the Open Drug Market (ODM) phenomenon, which we have been trying to deal with decisively in contrast to the Hon. Minister of State, who has passed his unlawful circular now jeopardise efforts to lease the ignominious status quo of using ODMs as the medium for distributing regulated products in Nigeria.”

They maintained that the interpretation was motivated by political development.

“Thesis refers to prevailing social conditions with all contradictions that, in time, are attacked by opposing historical forces named antithesis. The clash of these opposing forces results in synthesis. Which is a superior phase in the march to civilisation, according to the proponent, the German philosopher Hegel.”

They added that the first attempt to get rid of Open drug markets was through Decree 21 of 1988, amended as Decree 17 of 1989 and today,  Nigeria has aFake Drugs Act which prohibits the sales of drugs and other pharmaceuticals in Section 2 of the enabling Act in places like markets, parks, and modes of transportation like buses, ferries and so on.

“Section 2.2 of the same Fake Drugs Act makes it an offence to sell drugs or pharmaceuticals in any place not registered by the appropriate licensing authority, which is the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.

“As far back as 1992, the erstwhile Pharmacy Board of Nigeria (now Pharmacy Council of Nigeria) had served a public notice in tandem with the law not to register pharmaceutical companies located in ODMs, which are commonplace in Idumota, Lagos, Headbridge, Onitsha, Ariaria in Aba and Sabongeri in Kano.

“In 2013, the FG came up with the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) to ease the movement of players who wanted to continue lawful pharmaceutical business to relocate from ODMs to coordinated Wholesale centres (CWCs) in the public interest.

“It is a major irony that while the FG championed the successful relocation of the first group of players from the Sabongeri Market to Nigeria’s first CWC in the first quarter of 2024 through an unprecedented collaborative team effort of PCN and NAFDAC in an operation that cost hundreds of millions, the Hon. Minister of State at the FMoH has decided to sabotage all of these gains through his outrageously incomprehensible circular, where he has directed public health institutions to patronize 34 distributors or his preferred local factories for their syringe needs.

“It is very imperative to say that of the 34 distributors listed in Dr. Alausa’s circular, more than half or 52.94%, are operators in the outlawed ODMs, with seven each in Idumota, Lagos and Kano which recently cost the FG millions to relocate as well as another two each in Headbridge and Ariaria markets in Anambra and Abia States.

“Your Excellency, the scenario portrayed above amounts to a comedy of errors catalyzed by imperfect logic and defective syllogism on the part of the Hon. Minister of State because of a deliberate game plan not to be part of the progressive train we have seen in other dimensions, anchored by persons in the leadership of the FMoH who believe in consultations and thrive in collaborations.

They prayed that: “Your Excellency, the ACPN appeals to your sense of judgment in good conscience to quash the unlawful and vengeful circular of the Hon. Minister of State, Dr Tunji Alausa for reasons well highlighted in this memo.

“Your Excellency, the output of Dr. Alausa is yet another indication that pharmaceutically inclined endeavours need the technical input of a seasoned Registered Pharmacist in the capacities of a Chairman of, the Presidential Committee on Drug Distribution and Advisor on Pharmaceuticals to gain the desired momentum in Nigeria.

“Your Excellency, our memo is inspired by a passion for excellence in the quest to build a great nation.  We look forward to more impactful strides in healthcare, especially in the Pharmaceutical sector, which has great potential to improve national GDP.”