The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been commended for achieving success in the area of drug regulations in the country.
The commendation was given on Sunday in Abuja by some pharmacists at the second annual international conference of Nigeria Association of Foreign Trained Pharmacists (NAFTraPh).
The pharmacists told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the closing of the four-day conference, which began on Oct. 10, that NAFDAC had done a good job.
One of the pharmacists, Chidi Nneji, commended NAFDAC for doing a good job on drug regulation, maintaining that the situation had been so bad in the last 10 years.
“On the regulation of drugs and consumption, NAFDAC is doing a great job. Ten years ago, the situation was so bad but the agency has been able to clean up the system.
“There are still lots of work to be done, but I will say, we are heading in the right direction. With the convergence of expertise and ideas, we will get it right,” he said.
Another pharmacist, Chidinma Ozojiofor, also praised NAFDAC for doing exceedingly great, adding that the agency had made tremendous progress in the fight against counterfeit drugs.
Ozojiofor, who said that most government policies in Nigeria lacked proper implementation, called on NAFDAC not to relent in its war against fake drugs.
“If the laws governing healthcare are well implemented, drug abuse will be curtailed in the country, especially with anti-biotic, anti-microbias and others,” she stressed.
Onyekachi Nwakoby also commended Nigeria for achieving success on drug regulation, but said that the country still needed to enact law to support the fight against counterfeit drugs.
According to her, a lot is still needed to be done on the pharmacy’s section in terms of checking out for fake drugs.
She said that the Nigeria Pharmacists’ Association was planning to introduce some measures into the system to guarantee effective regulation of drugs in the pharmacy section.
“Pharmacists must change their mindsets and avoid buying fake drugs; they should not think of the profit they are going to make but the impact of such drugs on patients. (NAN)
