The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has rejected the three-tier classification of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMV) proposed by the Federal Government, saying it would further deepen drug distribution crisis in the country.
The PPMV review being proposed by the Federal Ministry of Health if effective would stipulate the type of drugs those in the pharmaceutical industry can stock and sell.
According to the Minister for Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the PPMVs would be restricted to sales and stocking of drugs in their respective tier lists.
But the ACPN said the move to create three tiers of eligible players in the sale of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs is hasty coming at a time the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) was reviewing the activities of PPMV holders to make them more effective.
“This to our best knowledge is still an ongoing discussion; hence we do not understand the haste by the FMOH to announce the tier classification of PPMVL holders and came out to declare that Patent Medicine Dealers has come to stay”, the group said in a statement by the National Chairman, Samuel Adekola and Secretary, Bose Idowu, on Sunday.
The association said the policy would open the health system to another round of “avoidable entropy” and vowed to seek legal redress of the proposal if their appeals for dialogue were “not taken seriously in the days ahead”.
ACPN restated that global norm stipulates that Pharmacists are experts in drug and must superintend the sales, use and dispensing of drugs through licensure, asking, “Why is the FMOH attempting to mutilate this lawful configuration?”
The statement said: “We find it extremely important to caution on the larger implications of the unnecessary stratification which opens a supposed tier-2 of PPMVL holders which will be made up of health professionals.
“In one breath, the FMOH and its parastatals are perceived as the major proponents of the Pharmacy Council Bill which already addresses the fundamental issue of accessibility to affordable, safe and efficacious drugs through the concept of Satellite Pharmacies.
“This same bill is clear that Pharmacy Technicians, a globally recognized cadre in the pharmaceutical value chain, will legally through statutes subsequently drive Patent Medicine Vending in Nigeria because this cadre is trained in the handling of OTC drugs in facilities accredited by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).
“Why then do we need this most unfortunate distraction orchestrated by the FMOH? The membership of the ACPN is certainly not comfortable with the motive that drove this tier classification of OTC drugs because it is a potential instrument to further worsen the chaotic drug distribution network in our country”.
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