By SOLA OGUNDIPE
IN the bid to enable Nigeria attain the objectives, goals and targets of the National Drug Policy, the Pharmaceutical  Society of Nigeria, PSN, is asking the Federal Government to create a National Pharmaceutical Commission.

National President, PSN, Pharm. Azubike Okwor who disclosed this last week, lamented such Commission had becone essential because the country had always had to contend with inadequacies in drug availability, supply and distribution resulting from a myriad of factors hinged on an ineffective system of drug administration and control.

Speaking during a media parley to announce the Society’s 84th  annual national conference tagged “Coal City 2011”, Okwor said: “Despite laudable initiatives to tackle  these drawbacks through  the maiden National Drug Policy in 1990, reviewed in 2005, we still have to grapple with issues of self-sufficiency in local drug production, a chaotic drug distribution network, weak commitment to rational use of drugs at all levels of care and constraints in drug research and development.

He said the sector required commitment from government and all stakeholders to create an environment in which it can flourish to realize its potentials as an asset to economic and social development.

“We have reached a stage where we need to inform policy makers that Nigeria has a pool of expertise that is desirable to transform the pharmaceutical sector, but this remains untapped. We must declare on this auspicious occasion that Nigeria has all the potentials to make the pharmaceutical sector a huge revenue source in the quest for national development like witnessed in China and India.

According to him: “We solicit a policy shift in the right direction to bring the objectives, goals and targets of the National Drug Policy back on track. We encourage government to practically demonstrate its commitment to the building of petrochemical plants as it will provide pharmaceutical raw materials and facilitate emergence of the World health Organisation compliance on manufacturing plants in the years ahead.”

On the conference which kicked off yesterday in Enugu, Enugu State, with the theme: “Achieving Health Sector Goals in Nigeria: – Opportunities and Challenges”, Okwor said the Society would utilise the occasion to present the Good Pharmacy Practice Guidelines.

“We are committing ourselves to the rules and regulations of our practice.  All pharmacists will sign the policy document and be committed to it.”