List of “essential medicines” edges toward national use

Health minister Osagie Ehanire has called for the implementation of policy documents and guidelines in prescribing and dispensing medicines.

The policy documents cover the Nigeria Standard Treatment Guidelines (NSTG) and the National Essential Medicine List (EML).

The guidelines were disseminated to top management of the health ministry this week at a day’s sensitisation workshop in Abuja.

The World Health Organisation requires nations to periodically review their essential medicines list to align with global best practice, and disease pattern and prevalence in individual countries.

“The purpose of the key policy documents for the national health system is to ensure the availability of high quality medicine for proper health care in our health delivery system,” said Ehanire.

“The list remains a dynamic, variable list. There is a certainty provision for medicine not on this list that maybe required in exceptional circumstances for treatment also be made available”.

The essential medicines list guides procurement, use and prescription of medicines in public health care.

It also guides what medicines are prescribed, the medicine information provided to health care providers, refund for medicine in the National Health Insurance Scheme and a reference standard for all health professionals.

“It is therefore important that Health Care professionals both in private and public sector ensure that they are guided by the provision of standard treatment guidelines and the EMLs with the cause of prescribing and dispensing to ensure rational use of medicine,” said Ehanire.

John Obodo, who heads the essential medicines list review committee said the list was helping to curb wastage when too many drugs are procure to counter diseases that seem to appear.

The workshop was facilitated by Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria – The Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PSN-PAS), a health accountability network of civil-society groups advocating full implementation of the treatment guidelines across states and zones.

“For us, it is milestone and we must ensure that the health indices of this country change for the better,” said Munir Eleru, programme director for PSN-PAS.

“The PSN-PAS will assist the ministry in turning around the tables for better for the sake of humanity and citizens of this country.”