By Sola Ogundipe

PHARMACISTS under the aegis of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Lagos State Branch), have sent a Save-Our-Soul message to President Goodluck Jonathan over the proliferation of unregistered drug premises and distribution of fake drugs in the 20 Local government Areas of Lagos State.

In a statement signed by Chairman of the branch, Pharm Akintunde Obembe, the body of pharmacists urged the President to urgently wade into the matter by directing the Federal Ministry of Health to reconstitute the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) so as to nip in the bud the looming crisis likely to emanate from the unsavoury development.

His words: “The PSN Lagos State Branch) as a major stakeholder in organised pharmacy finds it necessary once again to call on the Presidency to give specific directives to the Federal Ministry of Health on how to resolve the lingering impasse on the composition of the Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria.

“Government apathy has allowed this crisis to deteriorate rather dangerously. The new fallout of this imbroglio is the delay in the issuance of licences by the PCN, a development which has now led to increase in number of unregistered premises and an upsurge in the influx of fake drugs,” he submitted.

Obembe who said recent surveys conducted by the PSN (Lagos State Branch) confirmed an upsurge in the number of unregistered premises put the figure at 204,448 in the 20 LGAs- an increase of 100 percent from the last documented figure of 112,000 in the erstwhile 20 LGAs in the State as at year 2000.

“The survey indicated very clearly that in the last six months, 27,576 unregistered premises sprung up. Of the 27,576 unregistered premises that have just emerged, a whooping 18,337 evolved in the first quarter of 2011.

“In the same report, the incidence of drug misuse was reported to be on the rise by over 12.5 percent, while the incidence of fake and counterfeit drug trading increased from 47.85 percent, to 48.39 percent, in the Lagos area.”

After subjecting the report to serious scrutiny, he said the Lagos PSN is of the firm conviction that the unfortunate delay in the issuance of licenses to pharmaceutical companies in 2011 has encouraged a reign of impunity as merchants of death have continued to churn out more “graduate apprentices” to maintain the ugly hegemony of a periodic cyclic discharge into the pharmaceutical sector to wreak more havoc.

“It is a matter of commonsense that it is the plethora of unregistered premises that are used in the unethical and ungodly distribution of fake drugs in Nigeria, which implies that if proactive measures are not embarked on by the Federal Government immediately, the erstwhile documented fatality rate of 12.8 percent and therapeutic failure of 10.8 percent might skyrocket beyond 20 percent mark on the consumption of these spurious drugs.

He said the Lagos PSN as a major stakeholder in organised pharmacy finds it necessary once again to call on the Presidency to helpresolve the lingering impasse on the composition of the PCN.

“Government apathy has allowed this crisis to deteriorate rather dangerously. The new fallout of this imbroglio is the delay in the issuance of licences by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, a development which has now led to increase in number of unregistered premises and an upsurge in the influx of fake drugs.

“These twin developments pose significant public health concerns and we call on President Jonathan to give the necessary directives to all the concerned authorities to immediately ameliorate this dangerous omen that looms in the pharmaceutical sector.