Syringes
Angela Onwuzoo
The call for a ban on syringes and needles importation into the country by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa. has been flayed by stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector.
They noted that the minister had yet to carry out evaluations or research to find out what the needs of Nigeria are in terms of these essential commodities before taking the decision and coming up with the statement.
The stakeholders dismissed Alausa’s statement, describing it as one “driven more by emotional paroxysms and probably nationalism, national pride, rather than truism and reality.”
Alausa had last week during a visit to the Afrimedical Manufacturing and Supplies Limited Syringe factory in Ogun State called for a total ban on the importation of needles and syringes to encourage local production in the country.
Dr Tunji Alausa, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare
The minister said the visit was to “address the challenge of substandard medical device imports and promote indigenous manufacturing”
He said syringe production in Nigeria needs to be restructured to enhance the availability of products and create job opportunities for citizens.
But speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, the pharmacists noted that in a country with a struggling pharmaceutical sector, the minister should have considered certain factors such as the installed capacity of the local industry to produce syringes in Nigeria before coming to the public to make such a call.
Despite the launch of the third edition of the National Drug Policy in 2021 which seeks to strengthen the health system and the delivery of medicines, vaccines, and other health technologies and supplies, Nigeria’s pharma sector is still import-dependent.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says about 70 per cent of drugs in the country are imported.
Its director-general, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency was working on reducing the importation of drugs from its present 70 per cent to 30 per cent by 2025.
Speaking with our correspondent, a past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo, said public officials should stop coming to the public to make certain statements without backing them with facts.
Faulting the call for the ban on the importation of syringes, Akintayo said, “Now, basically in the industry, there are two critical factors that you need to establish to determine whether the local industry can attain self-sufficiency in the production of any given item, whether it’s a drug, whether they are medical devices, like syringes we’re talking about in this instance.
“There’s a factor that you need to look at; that factor is called installed capacity. So, the very first question I want to ask is, did Tunji Alausa verify the installed capacity of the local industry to produce syringes in Nigeria?
“Did he carry out evaluations to find out what is the need in terms of need assessment, what is the need of Nigeria in terms of syringes and needles before coming up with this statement?
“Let me also ask because it goes beyond sustaining an installed capacity; there is also a factor called capacity utilisation.
“Sometimes you can have installed capacity, but you might not achieve capacity utilisation because probably the market is not there or the technical know-how is not there.
“So, I’m saying his statement is not based on scientific evaluation. It’s a statement driven more by emotional paroxysms and probably nationalism, national pride, rather than truism and reality.”
The pharmacist advised government officials to stop rushing to the public to demand a ban on certain items without carrying out any scientific evaluations.
The former PSN boss expressed worry that Nigeria has continuously failed to achieve drug sufficiency despite having a National Drug Policy.
“So, the question, therefore, is what is the government doing to make the current goals and objectives of its own National Drug Policy attainable in Nigeria?
“Because one of the goals of that policy is that 70 per cent of our drugs should be available, and should be made through local manufacturers.
” And we have failed woefully since the first National Drug Policy was enacted in 1990. It was reviewed back in 2005. And the current one was in 2021.
” We have always failed, and we will continue to fail because the government refuses to make pragmatic decisions,” he said.
Akintayo asked President Bola Tinubu to implement various reforms recommended in the pharmaceutical sector to boost local drug manufacturing in the country.
He said the pharmaceutical sector is very crucial to the country, noting that it is only drug manufacturers that can add serious value in terms of Gross Domestic Product that can boost the Nigerian economy.
The pharmacist also urged Tinubu to urgently look at the various concerns in the pharmaceutical sector and address them if the country is to witness robust local drug manufacturing like India and China.
Corroborating his statement, National Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Adewale Oladigbolu, described the call for a ban on the importation of syringes by the health minister as curing the symptoms and not the disease
He said, “Honestly, for us to call for this kind of thing, we must have done a study that indicates what level of consumption we have for syringes in the country.
“And then, we check the capacity of the industries that are in existence in Nigeria, and match it up and then, have a guarantee that there’s self-sufficiency in syringe production in Nigeria. I don’t think that study was done. If the study was not done, then the call is uncalled for. And why do I say I do not think the study was done?
” It’s because of the cost of syringes. Five, or six years ago, syringes were one of the cheapest medical items— consumables. It used to go for N20. Today, syringes go for about a N100.”
He, however, urged the government to support the growth of local industries, stating that the government has a responsibility to bring down the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
The pharmacist maintained that when goods are cheap, nobody is going to import them.
“So, if we have adequate local production, why not? We can have a ban on the importation of syringes. We don’t even need to ban it.
“Adequate in-country production means that prices will be so cheap that importers will find it difficult to go and import syringes.
” So, what I would want the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to do is to ensure that we have adequate local production and to support the growth of local industries so that syringes become cheap. If it becomes cheap, you don’t need to ask anybody to ban it”, he said.
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