They lamented that the NDDG, in its present form, has essentially handed over the pharmaceutical industry to cartels and syndicates, saying this would increase the cost of essential medicines due to what they described as “inefficient extension of the distribution chain.”

 

Speaking on behalf of the group, the chairman, PMG-MAN, Mr. Okey Akpa, said while the group is supportive of the Federal Government’s efforts to sanitise drug distribution, there’s the need to base the policy on “realistic, sustainable and evidence-based approach to solving the nation’s current drug distribution challenge.”

 

Akpa noted that the guidelines had restricted the sale of all medicines by manufacturers and importers to only a few, “mostly foreign-owned distribution companies who are required to sell to the group’s current wholesalers.”

 

The group submitted that should the government fail to reverse this trend, it would lead to significant reduction in access to essential medicines, while it is also capable of leading to mass retrenchment in a sector that currently employs over million Nigerians.

 

Akpa said, “Currently, there is little or no infrastructure in place to run the NDDG, despite the health ministry’s claim; and there is a real risk of persons living in certain areas of the country being denied access to essential medicines.”

 

While debunking the claim that the activities of open market operators were exclusively responsible for drug adulteration and faking, the Managing Director of Fidson Healthcare Plc, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, said since the world now tends towards “directness and inclusiveness,” open markets could not be wholly responsible for fakery.

 

“Rather, it is the infiltration of open market by criminals that bastardised the activities of the open market operators, hence the need for vigilance in this sector,” Ayebae warned.

 

He noted that, “The backbone of the current distribution network is the open market, which serves as major sources of purchase for hospitals, wholesalers and retailers. The open market, which controls about 80 per cent of the distribution system in volume and value, would be closed once the NDDG becomes operational.

 

“We are of the opinion that operators in the open drug market should be acknowledged and accommodated in any planned distribution system – a feat that could only be accomplished through the setting-up of ‘regulated wholesale centres’ across the country, with full control and supervision by the regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Police, etc., in line with the pharmacy laws.”

 

Ayebae warned that should the government refuse to take to this informed advice, the turnover of many pharmaceutical companies would reduce and businesses would shut down; effectively discouraging small scale enterprises and other investments in the sector.

 

He added that over N100bn (represented as receivables) of the industry’s working capital that is tied down at the wholesale level of the value chain would be lost, as the wholesalers might claim force majeure, except they are accommodated in the new drug distribution arrangement.

 

Worse still, the employers said, the policy would lead to a hike in the prices of essential medicines, as the new layer of distribution would increase the cost of drugs by about 35 per cent. Consequently, the PMG-MAN proposed a deferment of the NDDG, while advocating its refinement “to reasonably accommodate all stakeholders.”

 

“The new model must evolve to allow for a sustainable, reliable and rewarding distribution system in Nigeria’s health care industry,” Ayebae said.