E-DRUG: Regulating ethical drugs in Nigeria
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[Ethical drugs is here used for prescription medicines I think. KM]
Dear e-druggers,
A new policy on dispesing and sale of ethical drugs is about to be
implemented in Nigera. The thrust of the policy is correcting the decades long practice of selling of ethical drugs without prescription.
However, Nigeria is a place where doctors stock drugs or rather have a
pharmacy in their practice without a pharmacist. Likewise pharmacists
dispense ethical drugs without prescriptions. To make the issue worse, ethical drugs are sold in illegal markets without any form of control.
The issue is "NAFDAC needs guidance on implementing the policy properly" and we would like to do just that.
If you have any form of document where these practices are better regulated
in your country, kindly send such to across.
Thank you all.
Olatubosun Obileye
Drug Access & Policy Initiative
obileyet@hotmail.com
E-DRUG: Regulating ethical drugs in Nigeria (1)
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Dear Olabutosun,
In Australia we have a system of licensing premises where prescription drugs are held - from the warehouses where imported drugs arrive to the shops where they are sold (pharmacies mostly, but doctors also have some supplies). The licensing requires secure storage of the goods (from contamination or theft) under appropriate environmental conditions (temperature and bird, insect or rodent attack). Anyone with medicines and without a licence is prosecuted. This of course requires some body to check. This is done by 'drug and poison inspectors' at a local district level and covers human, veterinary and agricultural products. Seems to me this might be a workable first step.
This regulation is well established in Australia and is backed up by the various professional societies (of pharmacists and doctors and drug manufacturers). The second tier of control is to require all those handling drugs to account for their stock. There should be paperwork associated with incoming stock to identify its origin and prescriptions or other paperwork to show where it went.
I am in Victoria (a state of Australia) and you can access the licensing requirements via their website http://www.health.vic.gov.au/dpu/lic_permits.htm.
Hope this is useful
Norma Rohde
nrohde2000@yahoo.com