Stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry have called on the federal government to promptly stabilize the exchange rate within the country to prevent the looming collapse of the sector.
The group made the call during a roundtable discussion themed “The impact of the high cost of drugs on patients and the healthcare system. The pharmacist’s stand.”
The roundtable was organised by the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, in Oyo State.
Some panellists at the programme held on Wednesday in Ibadan said the fall of the naira has adversely affected the pharmaceutical sector.
The pharmacists who expressed worry that the prices of medical products in the country may continue to increase if the exchange rate is not stabilized urged the president to address the further fall of the naira to save the sector from total collapse.
ACPN Chairman, Adebayo Gbadamosi said the high cost of pharmaceuticals is a complex challenge that requires a multifaceted approach, maintaining that the meeting was called to address the problems facing the sector.
Pharmacist Taofik Odukoya, in his contribution, said the sector was facing a lot of challenges as a result of inflation in the country. “We are facing a lot of challenges. The impact is much. We need to address it unless people will not be able to afford drugs anymore. If you priced something last week, this week the price has changed. If people are not healthy, we will not be talking about education and other things. The only cause is the unstable exchange rate”.
Pharmacist Sam Ebuka Ejiofor, in his contribution, noted that prices of pharmaceutical products are increasing as a result of the fall of the naira.
He said, “It is affecting everyone. It affects us as individuals differently. Inflation is affecting us. Like I said I am in the distribution arm, and the drug prices are increasing on a daily basis. It is unfortunate”.
Pharmacist Aderemi Omotosho then advised the federal government to stabilise the naira.
“As a manufacturer, we are also affected. There is inflation across all the sectors and medicine, drugs are not exempted. We are also experiencing it. The price of raw materials is also increasing. The first thing is for the government to ensure that our exchange rate is stable.
”It is something the government should do. The government should address it. There are arrays of problems. It is now time for us to cut our expenses. The dollar rate to naira is increasing daily. The price of things is not stable. This is affecting the sector as a businessman or as a manufacturer.“
Amidu Rahmon said, “Pharmacy business is not the way it was in the past. We are all affected but the degree may be different. Do you know that within a day, we have two prices from a company, the same product and the same day? They just said the price has changed due to the instability of the exchange rate. The problem is that we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. This is the high time we can tell the story”.