NATIONAL Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has urged pharmacists in Nasarawa state to adhere strictly to good ethical practice on Over The Counter (OTC) drugs so as to reduce drug abuse in the state.
Mr Bulus Msheila, NAFDAC coordinator in Nasarawa state stated this in an interview with newsmen in Lafia on Monday.
According to Msheila, the rate of drug abuse in the country is partly due to the unethical practices of some pharmacists who sell Over The Counter (OTC) drugs to customers without doctor’s prescription.
He explained that if pharmacists adhere strictly to the ethics of their profession which includes dispensing OTC drugs only to customers with doctor’s prescription, drug abuse will drastically reduce to the barest minimum in the state and more lives will be saved from the dangers of drug abuse.
“We are appealing to those in the drugs distribution system that they should please adhere to their ethics because if there has been strict adherence on dispensing of certain drugs on prescription, abuse of some of these drugs would not have been much.
“Prescription-only drugs should not be dispensed to people without prescription. Automatically when some approach you for OTC drugs without a doctor’s prescription, you will know that person wants to buy to go and abuse. It is your responsibility not to sell to such person,” he added.
The Nasarawa state Coordinator of NAFDAC said apart from the dangers drug abuse poses to the liver and other parts of the body, abuse of drugs also leads to resistance from infections thereby causing serious health risks.
“Also, if drugs are not properly used, there is the tendency of the parasite the drug is formulated to attack to develop resistance. You will see somebody come to the shop of a pharmacist to buy two capsules of Ampiclox and the pharmacist sells the two capsules and collects money from the customer.
“You have not done good to humanity by engaging in such practice because the customer will take incomplete dosage. Maybe the parasite will relapse after the person takes the drugs but it will resurface some few hours or days later and develop resistance.
“I do tell people that instead of selling incomplete dosage, it is better to sell complete dosage and let the person owe you. You are doing good service to yourself, to your generation and generations yet unborn,” He said.
Msheila who added that the high rate of drug abuse in the state and country led to the ban on codeine and the restriction on tramadol as a prescription drug warned that NAFDAC has increased its surveilance on pharmacies and patent medicine stores across the state to ensure they do not violate ethics guiding their profession.
“Good ethical practice is very important in fighting drug abuse. So we engage in Inspection and unannounced surveillance to ensure that those in the drug business do the right thing. Once we get someone doing what is wrong, we evacuate the person to face the wrath of the law,” He said.
He also appealed to residents of the state to share information with the agency on pharmacists who abuse the ethics of their profession, assuring them of maximum confidentiality and prompt action against those in reported.